Red Clouds in Morning
by Numbnut10
Summary: Team 7 is on an assassination mission. They are to infiltrate the Land of the River and interrogate the daimyo. But in this mission, there is no guarantee everyone or anyone will survive. Not your ordinary fanfiction. Read and Review!
1. The Silver Ladle

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

**Summery**: Team 7 is given an assassination mission. They are to infiltrate the Land of the River and interrogate its feudal lord. But how is Akatsuki involved in all of this? Not your ordinary fanfiction. Read and Review!

**Warnings**: This is rated T for violence, cursing, and torture. And possible character death.

**Author's Notes**: This is my first fan fiction. Any constructive criticism is welcome and will be laminated and then trashed.

Now, on to the story.

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**_Red Clouds In Morning _**

_Chapter One: The Silver Ladle._

Arashi Saburo awoke with a painfully loud ringing in his ears. His body was laying down on top of wet grass. His face was in a puddle of his own bodily fluids. A fire was burning about a meter from his body. Arashi heard shouting and bells in the distance. There was a glint reflecting off a sword. The sword was being held by a dark figure decked in full samurai armor looming above Arashi. The swordsman was kicking his sandals into Arashi's back with increasing force. Arashi's vision slowly began to darken back into sweet unconsciousness.

"Come on, wake up Arashi-teme! I know you're awake, I saw your eyes open for a second! It's my turn to sleep by the deliciously warm fire and your turn to stand guard in the icy cold! This is the last shift for tonight and I need my beauty sleep!", shouted the towering soldier.

Arashi felt like dying. No, check that thought. Arashi felt like killing his shift partner. He glared at his partner with the fury of a thousand burnt out suns.

Slowly, Arashi's mind began to let go of the welcome dream and focus on reality. And reality was, he was a guard paid to work and guard the eastern gate of the feudal lord's appealing castle.

Arashi pulled his sheathed katana from his belt. He stabbed the sheath into the earth and used it as leverage to pull himself onto shaky, tired legs. Now standing, Arashi tried to wipe the fatigue from his eyes, but it only came back. Arashi wiped his mouth and dirt and drool smeared across his cheek. Arashi's taste buds yawned and awakened, only to alert Arashi of the taste of mud in his mouth. Arashi stretched his aching back, and decided to kick his partner awake when it was time to leave.

_Such a fine dream too_, thought the sleepy samurai as his mind stumbled to attention. As things got clearer, Arashi could make sense of the shouting. It was people waking up their shift partners and a few were beating their sleeping comrades. Finally, all the people in the night shift were awake.

Arashi looked over to the large white castle that he was charged to protect. It was the home to the Land of the River's feudal lord, Shimizu Hiroshi. Lord Shimizu was a kind and generous man. Under Lord Shimizu's reign, the Land of the River was flourishing and prospering. Crime in the Land of the River was nearly nonexistent, this was probably due to high punishments and a firm and fair justice system. Poverty and education was a very little problem under Shimizu-sama's strict rule. Everyone loved the current feudal lord and it looked like a promising future was in store for the Land of the River.

But if the current daimyo had one weakness, it would be paranoia. There were at least twice as many samurai and shinobi protecting the great castle as there had during previous rules. People made light of this by calling Shimizu-sama's castle the Impenetrable Castle of the River. Lord Shimizu made sure that the Land of the River's military strength was at top condition. Anyone and everyone able to go to war were given mandatory training to make sure that this land was safe.

The pay to guard the castle was excellent, but the working times were awful. There were only two main shifts, the daytime and the nighttime. And there were four people guarding each of the four gates. Two of the guards would stand watch while the other two slept. Then, every hour, they would switch and the previously standing guards would get some sleep while their shift partner stood at the gate. This would repeat from until sunrise when a fresh batch of guards took over until sunset.

The castle was a marvel to look at. The outside wall was made with the finest white stone and cedar wood. The roofs were covered with shingles that glittered in the sun. The courtyard had beautiful foreign trees and flowers. There was a rather large river that flowed from the west underneath the castle. The castle made use of this and turned the river into a moving pool for the daimyo and his family to enjoy. The river then opened up into a beautiful natural lake. When the sun rose in the east, the lake would reflect and form a glorious sight. This was a view the daimyo would wake up to every morning. It was the perfect way to begin each morning.

Arashi turned from the castle and dragged his feet behind him as he lumbered over to his post. He happened to glance to his right and saw another samurai moving in the same general direction. The cold quickly began to chill his bones and a chattering began in Arashi's mouth. There looked like there was a thin mist hugging the ground as Arashi moved away from the beckoning fire. It was mornings like this that Arashi would entertain himself with the idea of quitting and crawling in bed with his loving and warm wife. But Arashi could do that later, this was the last shift of the day. Arashi would stand watch until a caravan comes and then he could go home and return to his family. Lord Shimizu pays very well for hard working soldiers to keep stand and protect him.

Arashi glanced to his right, at the sleeping form of the guard next to him. _Hard working soldiers indeed_, thought Arashi. _It appears as though some of us cannot keep our eyes open_. But Arashi couldn't blame him, it was taking all of Arashi's willpower just to stay standing up. It couldn't hurt to sit down for a while.

Arashi settled down into a sitting position. Lack of sleep began to steal his sight and darkness began to eat at the edges of Arashi's vision. Suddenly, Arashi was very thirsty. Arashi forced himself to his feet and began to walk toward a nearby well. As Arashi walked by his shift partner, already sleeping, he resisted the urge to kick him. But that would be saved for later.

As Arashi neared the well, he spotted a silver ladle hanging off a hood nailed to the well. Arashi grabbed it and stretched his arm down into the well. Arashi dipped the ladle in the water and began to pull himself up to-**THUNK!**

Arashi leapt in surprise and nearly dropped the ladle. Quickly, Arashi rose, only to bang his head on the underside of the well's roof and cursed out a word that his wife would beat him for. Rubbing his aching head painfully, Arashi unsheathed his sword and looked up on top of the well. Nothing was there.

Arashi looked left and right, trying to find whatever made that _thunk_. There wasn't anything around as far as Arashi could see. But the hairs on the back of his neck were standing upright. He felt like someone or something was staring at him. Arashi squinted at the dark trees, but saw nothing. Arashi's mind started to weave thoughts that perhaps Arashi didn't hear anything. All he needed to do was go home and cuddle up to his loving and warm wife. Arashi pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and began to pace around the well. But his searches resulted in the same thing as his mind was telling him.

Perhaps Arashi should return to his post, but a dry throat and a parched tongue begged a differ. Arashi resheathed his katana, but kept a thumb under the _tsuba_ so he could draw his katana faster than you could say, _"basugasubakuhatsu"_. He slowly, cautiously, grabbed the silver ladle. Arashi lifted the ladle out of the well. He could see the fire behind him in the reflection of the ladle's cup. As Arashi tipped the ladle to pour liquid into his parched lips, he saw a shadowy figure crouching behind him, holding a glinting knife in his left hand.

Arashi dropped the ladle and spun around, drawing his katana and swinging it at the dark figure in an upward diagonal swipe with the intent to disembowel. The dark figure positioned his knife to intercept the katana. The sound of metal clanging and the sound of the ladle breaking the water surface occurred simultaneously. In this position, Arashi could get a look at his assailant.

Arashi's attacker was a scrawny, nearly scarecrow scrawny, middle-aged man with shock white hair that lifted up in a gravity-defying angle. The lower half of his face was hidden behind a black mask that reached down past his collar. To further conceal his facial features, he wore a _hitai-ite_ over his left eye and ear. Only his right eye and right ear was exposed. He wore a dark green vest with an assortment of organized pockets and pouches. Under this, he had a black sleeved shirt with a red spiral emblazed on the shoulders. His pants were just as dark as his shirt. The pants were loose and didn't constrict any movement in the legs, nor did they make a noise when the man moved. The man wore fingerless gloves, as well as metal plates on the back of the hands for protection. Arashi's attacker held a hooked kunai in both hands, which he was using to hold back Arashi's sword. The hooked kunai was designed specifically to slit throats for a silent kill.

Arashi was sure that his attacker was an elite ninja. Arashi knew that ninja could wield spiritual energy called chakra to perform impossible feats such as breathing fire or walking on water or vanishing into thin air. Arashi knew the basic fundamentals of chakra control. Like how to flow his chakra to his arms and legs to strengthen them and make him faster and stronger. Arashi began to force his weight forward as well as his chakra to his arms. The intertwined weapons began to move toward the ninja. The ninja's right eye burned angrily. Then, the jonin ninja began to force Arashi _back_. It would look impossible to a casual onlooker, a scrawny man pushing back a large samurai. Arashi's back was pressed to the lid of the well behind him. Arashi tried to use that as leverage to push back the assailant, but to no avail.

Arashi quickly came to the conclusion that he wasn't a match for this shinobi. Opening his mouth, Arashi was just about to shout for help when a second figure materialized on top of the well with a _thunk_. The second figure quickly plunged a kunai knife straight down into Arashi's skull. The white haired shinobi caught Arashi's corpse as he collapsed dead. The white haired ninja picked up the corpse and brought it toward the well. As Arashi's corpse was carried on by, the second ninja wiped his bloody kunai on the back of Arashi's shirt. The first ninja unceremoniously dumped Arashi's body into the open mouth of the well. A second later, a soft _splash_ could be heard. Satisfied that the situation was under control, the second ninja turned toward the castle and jumped the entire distance from the well to the first floor roof. The white haired ninja briefly glanced at the castle before waving his hand at the forest. Then he turned and launched himself at the castle as well. A third figure leapt from the forest and landed on the well without a sound. Then it too bound at the castle. Yet a fourth figure burst forth from the forest and landed on top of the well with a loud **THUNK!** Then it ricocheted off the well and after its comrades, who were already climbing up the castle's white stone walls.

The Impenetrable Castle of the River had just been penetrated. And all anyone would notice before it was too late would be a missing silver ladle.

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End Chapter One: The Silver Ladle.

How was that for a first chapter of my first fan fiction! Please read and review! I will make another chapter as soon as possible!

P.S. A reward for the first one that can translate the Japanese tongue twister I put in here!


	2. Locked Out

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto. Once again, Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

**Warnings**: This is rated T for violence, cursing, and torture. And possible character death.

**Author's Notes**: This is the second chapter to my first fan fiction, _Red Clouds In Morning_. I am **_extremely_** sorry that I am late. My parents grounded me for a week. But my ever loving parents let me post this chapter, so I forgive them. So far, I have only gotten a few reviews. And no one has gotten the Japanese tongue twister yet! Hope for more soon reviews soon! Please…

Kesek: I intended for my first fan fiction to be dark and scary. And yes, that does mean that there will be more action. In a couple more chapters…

another random writer: Yeah, there is a lot of detail in my fan fiction. "Actiony" is not a word. Yay for action!

Now, onto the story.

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**_Red Clouds In Morning_**

_Chapter Two: Locked Out._

It was morning in the Land of the River. Four shadowy figures continued their race up the western wall of the Impenetrable Castle of the River. Hopping from one floor's roof to the next, the team made fast progress as they scaled the castle's white stone walls. Within minutes, the entire squad made it to the castle's top roof. The white haired shinobi leapt up to the roof and landed without a whisper. He was quickly followed by the second, who grabbed the roof and somersaulted on top. The fourth shinobi beat the third one to the top. As the third shinobi crawled on top of the roof, the third reached out his hand and pulled his comrade to her feet. Then they dashed to meet up with their teammates.

"Kakashi-sensei, was it really necessary to kill that guy?", asked the third member of the group.

"Yes it was Sakura, we're on a tight schedule and that samurai was merely in the way.", replied the white haired ninja, Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi was the former teacher of Team 7 and now was the squad leader.

"Alright everyone, gather around.", said Kakashi, "We don't have much time to get ready." Everyone gathered around Kakashi as he reached into one of his many pockets and pulled out a rather crumbled blueprint.

While Kakashi was smoothing out the tattered blueprint, Sakura turned her attention to the third member of their four man cell.

"Naruto, could you make anymore noise?", asked Sakura.

"What, I didn't make that much noise!", whined Naruto.

"You landed on that well like a brick! I'm surprised that no one woke up with that racket!"

"Well, nobody did wake up! So it doesn't matter!", Naruto loudly retorted. Sakura brought her fist down on top of Naruto's head.

"Why can't you be quiet, like Sasuke!", Sakura exclaimed, pointing at the second member of their group. Sasuke Uchiha watched with a hint of amusement as Naruto rubbed his head in pain. Meanwhile, Kakashi was rubbing the crinkled blueprints over his knee.

"Now cut it out you two", said Kakashi, "we have little time for preparations and even less for chitchat."

Team 7 quickly gathered around Kakashi as he began to speak. "We have heard rumors that the daimyo of the Land of the River has had secret contacts with Akatsuki. We are to infiltrate this castle and locate him. Then we are to interrogate him and determine if these rumors are true.", Kakashi continued, "If this is the case, then we are to verify if he knows where Akatsuki is. Then when we get all we can from him, we force Shimizu to perform _seppuku_."

Almost everyone nodded in understanding. Naruto nodded, but his face was scrunched up in a way that made it painfully obvious that he was lost. "Ok, Naruto, what part of that _did_ you understand?", asked an exasperated Sakura.

"How are we gonna get in and interr, uh, get the info from this guy?", asked Naruto.

Kakashi stared at Naruto. "Didn't you listen when we explained this on the way here?"

"No.", Naruto admitted.

"Sakura…" Sakura obliged and drove her knuckle into Naruto's thick skull.

"Sasuke and I are going to use our Sharingan to memorize this map. Unfortunately, this map is incomplete and doesn't have the last floor.", explained Kakashi, "Sasuke will also use his Sharingan to hypnotize the daimyo into telling us what we want to know. Then, if the daimyo has had secret dealings with Akatsuki, he will be given the choice between being killed by us or performing _seppuku_."

"How are we gonna get away?", pondered Naruto, earning him another painful lump on his head courtesy of Sakura.

"What have you been doing all this time!", exclaimed Sakura, "Do we have to explain everything all over again!"

"Listen this time! After we are finished with the daimyo, we are going to have to fight our way down to the bottom level. From there, we locate the river pool and escape downriver.", Sakura summed up. "Understand now?"

"Yeah, but why can't we just run outside the castle to get to the river?", wearily asked Naruto, suspecting that he was going to have a hundred lumps on his head before the mission was over. Sakura began to wind her fist up for another round when Kakashi quickly saved his painfully blond student.

"Good question Naruto.", Kakashi said quickly. Sakura looked at Kakashi with a shocked expression. "The reason we have to move inside the castle is because of the Land of the River's military strength: archers. If we were to try and run outside the castle to escape, we would have to face a hundred skilled archers while we are outside. We'd be skewered in a seconds. "

Naruto nodded his head slowly, starting to get the picture. Sakura lowered her powerful fist. Sasuke was in a sitting position on the edge of the roof, overlooking the courtyard below him. Kakashi waved Sasuke over and they began to memorize the map in front of them.

Sakura looked at the entire team. Almost everyone was so much different than back in the old days. They even looked different. Sakura herself had grown into a beautiful and skilled kunoichi. This was the first mission they had together for a very long time, and it would be interesting to see how everyone has improved.

Uzimaki Naruto certainly has improved since pre-graduate years. Kakashi says that he has improved 110 percent since he first saw him. Naruto has gotten much more powerful than the original brat that Sakura had known. He has perfected the Rasengan and can now infuse the jutsu with his wind element. He no longer needs a shadow clone to form the ball of energy and can hold it in one hand. But Naruto says that making two Rasengans is too hard and it hurts his head concentrating that hard. Naruto now uses his brain and his brawn in a fight. He still uses his Shadow Clone Jutsu in every fight he is in. But he uses the shadow clones in advanced tactical ways. He no longer rushes at the opponent screaming. Naruto now uses stealth along with combat, although he doesn't have much patience for sneaking around. Naruto also, albeit rarely, uses the Kyuubi's demon chakra to fight. He is powerful alone, but when infused with the Kyuubi no Yoko's demon energy, he is downright frightening. This has earned him the title, 'Konoha's Red Demon'.

Naruto has also changed in outward appearances. Naruto still wears the same orange and black suit that he has been wearing since his return from his two and a half year training period with Jiraiya. His blond hair is growing faster and his eyes are growing larger. The three whisker marks on his cheeks have deepened and thickened over recent years. His hands have grown larger and thicker and Naruto's nails have begun to develop a sharp point. Kakashi has implied that Naruto's overall drastic changes might be linked to his unique relationship with the Kyuubi no Yoko sealed in his stomach.

But no matter how much Naruto has changed in skill and outward appearances, he is still the Number One Loudest, Unpredictable, Hyperactive Knuckleheaded Ninja. Or that's how Kakashi describes him. Naruto's blue eyes may have grown, but they still held that mischievous glimmer. He was still prone to childish pranks and annoying rants. And he is still disrespectful to those with higher authority, like Tsunade-sama. Naruto has kept true to his _nindo_ to never become an emotionless killing soldier, but Naruto won't hesitate to kill when he has to.

Haruno Sakura herself has changed in many ways. Her medical skills have far surpassed Tsunade's own when she was in her prime. Sakura can heal large wounds in record time and Tsunade says that Sakura could bring the near-dead back to life. Reattaching lost limbs is no real problem for Sakura, as long as the limb hasn't been dead for too long. Her abilities as a medical shinobi is so advanced, Sakura is said to be the best medical ninja in Konoha. Sakura holds this incredible title with pride and lets no one forget it.

But this isn't to say that Sakura's combat skills are any less dull. In fact, Sakura has only improved in all levels of ninja combat. Sakura's previously immaculate chakra control has only improved to microscopic levels, adding to her abilities as a medic. Sakura has many ninjutsu in her arsenal and her pinpoint perfect chakra control allows her to chain several of them in rapid succession without wasting a single ounce of effort. But ninjutsu is not Sakura's forte. It is in _genjutsu_ that her real strength lies. Sakura can manipulate a person's five senses to see, feel, smell, hear, and taste the darkest illusions. And Sakura can use various high level genjutsus to terrify multiple enemies into submission without breaking a sweat. Second only to her genjutsu skills is Sakura's taijutsu. Sakura previously could smash boulders and blow apart the earth beneath her using chakra enhanced strikes. Now Sakura has added a fighting form that focuses on her less than intimidating figure to surprise enemies by using her entire body as a weapon of mass destruction.

Sakura's personality hasn't changed much from after she made that life changing vow to protect Naruto and Sasuke. She has made it very clear that she will never return to the sidelines as a useless fan girl fawning over Sasuke. Sakura even goes out of her way to assert herself as if to show the world that she is a changed woman that can make a difference. And she has changed into a woman. Over recent years, Naruto has teased Sakura and asked her if she uses a transformation jutsu to enhance her figure like Tsunade. This is usually followed by a loud, "PERVERT!" and Naruto awaking in the Village Hidden in the Sand without any remembering of how he got there.

Sakura wears a bright red dress that drops down to her thighs and splits at her hips. The red dress resembles what she used to wear before Naruto returned. The dress is lined with white and there is a white strip that goes straight down the front. There are two maroon dragons made of leather clawing up the white strip. The dragons travel up the front of Sakura's dress, their claws cupping her breasts and their fangs around her throat. The twin dragon's tails encircle Sakura's waist and entwine behind her buttocks. Sakura wears a red neck choker around her throat. There is a single maroon dragon who's tail starts in front of Sakura's throat, encircles around her neck, only to end up back in the front to eat it's own tail. The neck choker is to prevent Sakura's throat from being slit open. Sakura also wears a bright red skirt with white hems. The skirt goes down to her knees and is hemmed with white. To make absolutely sure there aren't any indecencies while in combat, Sakura wears red spandex underneath her skirt. Sakura wears fingerless gloves with metal plates for protection. This outfit is actually a mixture of Sakura's previous two uniforms. She had Sai sew on the leather dragons up the front of her dress and he also made the neck choker for her as well.

When Sakura thought that almost everyone had changed, she meant that someone hadn't changed as well. Hatake Kakashi hasn't changed a single bit since they have known him. Kakashi still wears the exact same uniform and has no intention to change in the near or far future. The only outward change that is visible is Kakashi's previously silver hair is now shock white. Kakashi blames his students for his new hair style. Age might not seem to be affecting Kakashi, but there are a few subtle signs of Father Time's work. Kakashi's eyes aren't quite as sharp as they used to be, but his Sharingan eye is still just as powerful. Kakashi's memory seems to have faded slightly, but you can't really tell because he always has his nose in his book, Icha Icha Romance, the newest novel in the series. But sometimes he might have to read the same page over again. Kakashi hasn't received any wrinkles. But you wouldn't know that unless he happened to remove his mask. In all respect, when you're thirty-two years old, you are past the age of change.

Kakashi has been rumored to be thinking about passing on his title of 'Konoha's Copy Ninja' to Sasuke when he retires. Just like how Mighty Guy has , rather reluctantly, passed Rock Lee his former title of 'Konoha's Handsome, Youthful Green Beast'. Kakashi says that his Sharingan eye hasn't been as quick as when he was in his prime. Sasuke's Sharingan eye is even more powerful than Kakashi in his prime. This is because Sasuke's Sharingan is natural, not the result of implanting a Sharingan eye into someone. Sasuke is an Uchiha, the natural bearers of the Sharingan.

Uchiha Sasuke is said to be the most powerful of Team 7. His advanced usage of the Sharingan, as well as have been trained by one of the Legendary Sannin, makes him almost impossible to beat. Sasuke has kept his Kusanagi sword that Orochimaru gave him and has learned advanced kenjutsu techniques from his tutelage under Orochimaru. Sasuke's speed is unimaginable, being able to run through the ranks of a small squad as well as slicing them apart with his sword in the blink of an eye. Sasuke has obtained a very large arsenal of ninjutsus and genjustsus while being taught by Orochimaru. His chakra control isn't quite as remarkable as Sakura, but he has much more chakra than she will ever have. Sasuke, using his Sharingan, can detect and exploit an enemies weaknesses with a single glance. Kakashi says that if Sasuke ever obtained the Mangekyou Sharingan, he would be able to match up to Uchiha Itachi, his older brother. Kakashi says that he might teach Sasuke how he gained his Mangekyou Sharingan.

In outward appearances, Sasuke has hardly changed a bit. He still wears his onyx hair straight back with his bangs split off to each side. Sasuke keeps his Sharingan eyes on all the time, much like his older brother does. Sasuke now wears traditional Uchiha robes from his fathers wardrobe. Black robes hemmed with dark gray with the Uchiha family crest, the _uchiwa_, displayed proudly on the back and shoulders. The gray hems have lines of Japanese lettering and often conceal hidden senbon needles or scrolls or other weapons. He wears a black belt with the _uchiwa_ on each end, his Kusanagi hanging on his hip. Sasuke wears matching pants, they are very loose and light and don't constrict any movement at all. Sasuke's overall uniform offers little protection except for an iron mesh undershirt.

Ever since Sasuke's return from Orochimaru, Sasuke has proven himself to be a changed man. During his year and a half period of village arrest, Sasuke was guarded by Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke has become more human, more mellowed out than before. Naruto has even made the ridiculous claim of seeing Sasuke smile. Sasuke isn't close to outgoing and fun loving, but he is no longer the dark and mysterious jerk he used to be. This change of attitude might have come from coming to a hairs breadth of becoming Orochimaru's newest possession.

"Sakura, come on, we're moving.", said Kakashi, snapping Sakura out of her thoughts.

"Coming!", Sakura quickly pushed her thoughts to the back of her head and ran to catch up to her teammates. Kakashi handed Sasuke the blueprints of the castle. Sasuke focused his chakra into the thin paper and converted his chakra into fire, burning the blueprints and scattering the ashes in the wind.

The sun began to peek out from below the eastern horizon. The daimyo would be awaking now, and the nighttime guards would be switching with the daytime shift. Kakashi signaled his team down the silhouetted western wall, darkened by the approaching sunrise on the opposite side. Team 7 quickly ran straight down the white stone walls as the sunrise lit up the skies above them. Sakura quietly lamented that she wouldn't be able to see the beautiful lake view as they ran toward their entry point.

The four shinobi gathered around a circular window. Naruto resisted the sudden urge to spit down at the guards below. Sakura grabbed the window panes, then stopped.

"What are you waiting for?", whispered Sasuke, "Open the window before we're spotted!"

Sakura gave the rest of her squad a horrified look.

"It's locked."

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Bells and voices began to echo throughout the courtyard below. The nighttime guards pulled themselves to their feet and awaited their call. The north guards would be called first, then the east, then the west, and finally the southern guards would be replaced. The western guards awoke slowly, smacking their lips as parched tongues aroused. The guards were completely oblivious to the struggle above their very heads.

The eastern guards heard the bells and struggled to their feet.

"Where is Arashi?", asked one of the samurai as he rubbed sleep from his eyes. A few men looked around, wondering the same thing. Then the speakers called the eastern guards, and they lumbered to the caravan.

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"What do you mean it's locked!", exclaimed Naruto.

"Be quiet you fool!", Sasuke half whispered, half growled.

"I'm gonna beat your ass Sasuke!", threatened Naruto.

"Shut it you two!", growled Kakashi, "We're ninja, we are supposed to be silent!"

"I know! I'll blow the window apart with a Rasengan!"

"NO!"

Sakura rolled her eyes and began to pull at her pink hair in exasperation. Contrary to common belief, they couldn't just teleport like in some stupid cartoon. They couldn't phase through solid objects. They had to use their brains to think of a way to remove this barrier without breaking the glass, that would be suspicious. And time wasn't on their side, the eastern guards had just been called, so the western guards would be replaced very soon. And the incoming western guards probably weren't going to miss four people sticking on the wall's white stone. Sakura rubbed her temples, trying to figure out how to get out of this predicament. Surprisingly, Naruto came up with an answer first.

"I know! Watch this!", Naruto exclaimed.

Naruto lifted his hands to his mouth and bit down hard on his thumb, drawing a small amount of blood. Naruto's hands flew in a series of quick hand seals, and he slapped the window. Naruto focused his chakra into a cone shape from his palm, outward and through the window. A circular seal shaped something like a spider's web appeared on the window. There was a '_pop_' noise, and a red frog appeared on the _inside_ of the window in a quick burst of smoke.

"Hey boss!", exclaimed Gamakichi, for that was the ruddy frog's name.

"Oh. My. God!", Sakura gasped, "Naruto had a great idea! It's a miracle!"

Ignoring that insult in a complement, Naruto quickly began to act out what he wanted Gamakichi to do. The frog stared at Naruto for a while. Then he grabbed the window's lock with his webbed hands and forced it open. Then he stuck his head out of the window and asked, "What do you want me to do? I can't understand what you're trying to say!"

"Never mind.", Naruto said, "You unlocked the window, and you can go home now."

Understanding now, Gamakichi waved Team 7 good-bye and disappeared in a burst of smoke. Sasuke jumped in the open window, quickly followed by Sakura, then Kakashi squeezed in the small window.

Naruto quickly somersaulted into the window. As Naruto reached out to grab the window panes, he gathered a disgusting mixture of nasal mucus and spit in his mouth and hocked the loogie straight down on the unsuspecting guards below. Naruto slammed the window shut and relocked it, giggling to himself like a wild maniac.

"Infiltration part one complete.", whispered Sasuke as he watched Sakura beat Naruto senseless. Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose to hold back the migraine known as Uzumaki Naruto.

--------

One of the sleepy guards below received an unwelcome awakening. A rather large green tinted ball of mucus landed on the face of one of the samurai. His eyes fluttered open as the horrible gunk slid down his face. He released a cry of horror and disgust.

"What the hell! A bird just crapped on my face!", shouted the defiled samurai.

The samurai's partner just pointed and laughed, "That must have been one diseased bird! The crap is green! You could catch that weird bird flu!", exclaimed the laughing guard.

The tainted warrior cursed loudly as he ran inside the Impenetrable Castle of the River.

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End Chapter Two: Locked out.

And that is the end of that. I had fun writing this chapter. Don't worry, the 'actiony' scenes are coming soon and I will return this story to its intended darkness. I just had to show how Team 7 has progressed. As I have said before, I am very sorry that I am a week late. I will be back soon!

P.S. A reward for the first one that can tell me where Akatsuki's first known hideout was and what relevance does this have to do with my story.


	3. Hidden Threats

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto. For the third time, Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

**Warnings**: This is rated T for violence, cursing, and torture. And possible character death.

**Authors Notes**: This is the third chapter of my fan fiction, _Red Clouds In Morning_. The ideas for this fan fiction are coming to me pretty fast and I am also having a lot of fun writing this. So far, nobody can tell me where Akatsuki's first known hideout was. It is a very important piece of information for this story.

Now, onto the story.

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**_Red Clouds In Morning _**

_Chapter Three: Hidden Threats _

The bright sun rose lazily over the Land of the River. Samurai guards roamed the massive courtyard, each one of them ready for sudden combat. A few of the samurai were confused of why one of the eastern wells didn't have a ladle. But what the samurai didn't know was that they had already failed in protecting the courtyard before they had even arrived. Four shinobi intruders had already infiltrated the Impenetrable Castle of the River. Currently, the foursome were making their way through the castle, drawing ever closer to their target, the daimyo or feudal lord, Shimizu Hiroshi.

Hatake Kakashi lead his squad, Team 7, through the twisting pathways and long hallways as though he had been there his entire life. This was because Kakashi had used his Sharingan to memorize the castle's blueprints. He was closely followed by Uchiha Sasuke, who mimicked his movements almost perfect. He too had used his Sharingan to memorize the blueprints before igniting the papers. Sasuke was being followed by Haruno Sakura, who was being protected from behind by Uzumaki Naruto. This was the classic formation Team 7 had adopted. Since Kakashi was the squad leader, he naturally was up front. Because Sakura was their medical ninja, she had to be protected by the other two members of their cell. Sakura could defend herself with ease, but a sneak attack could injure her and she wouldn't be able to heal the rest of her team if they got hurt.

Team 7 was running down a long hallway that split off to the right when they heard talking. It sounded like it was coming from down the right path. Kakashi and Naruto pressed themselves against the right corner and Sasuke and Sakura on the left corner of the path. They peeked around the corners and listened for the samurai to turn away. The speaking slowly became weaker, so Kakashi took out a kunai and started to slink down the path. Kakashi reached an intersection, then waved that the cost was clear. Everyone ran down to meet him and Team 7 was back on the move.

Team 7 was running down a long hallway that had two doors, and branched off in a T farther down the hall. Suddenly, speaking and laughing could be heard behind them. With no way to escape, Kakashi and Sasuke dashed into the door to the right, and Sakura and Naruto dove into the door to the left. They were both broom closets. Sasuke could hear the guards coming down the hall. Sasuke slowly unsheathed his Kusanagi, ready for combat. The samurai walked past the broom closets and stopped. A door could be heard being opened, the same door that Sakura and Naruto were in! Resisting the urge to bash the door open and disembody the two samurai, Sasuke pressed his ear to the door and held as still as possible. In what felt like forever, he could hear footsteps walking away.

Sasuke waited until he could no longer hear the footsteps, then slowly, painfully slow, he opened the door. Sasuke glanced back at Kakashi. Kakashi nodded, knowing what Sasuke had in mind. Kakashi slowly slid into the shadows in the closet, disappearing from view. Sasuke ran, crouching as he moved to the opposite door. He grabbed the door handle, and pulled it open. Nothing was in there.

Sasuke looked left and right, his Sharingan would see past genjutsus, but nothing appeared. Sasuke then looked up, Naruto and Sakura were clinging onto the ceiling, and Naruto was grinning from ear to ear. Sasuke motioned Naruto down and the two moved back into the hallway. Naruto and Sasuke ran, crouching after the samurai.

Soon, the two shinobi caught up to the samurai. The samurai were strutting down a long path. Naruto pulled out a kunai knife, but Sasuke shook his head. They couldn't just throw kunai and kill these two samurai, that would stain the walls with blood. And blood on the walls isn't something that is going to be missed. Sasuke smacked his elbow to his palm, a signal for a silent knock out. Perhaps Naruto wasn't the best choice for this.

Nevertheless, the two ninja ran after the samurai. They flowed chakra to their feet, cushioning their steps, making no noise whatsoever. A burst of chakra and a leap and they dove after the retreating warriors. The two guards whirled around, katanas in hand.

Naruto threw two shuriken and one of the samurai deflected both with a swing of his blade. Naruto hit the ground, and cartwheel kicked the sword out of the guard's hand. The samurai ducked down and pulled out a dagger from a hidden compartment in the sheath and stabbed at Naruto. Naruto jumped onto the wall and launched himself over the stab and drove an axe kick on the top of the guard's helmet. The helmet sunk down over the man's eyes, and he used one hand to swing his dagger wildly and the other hand to try and pry off his helmet. Naruto drove his knee into the samurai's neck, the man slumped to his knees, unconscious.

As Naruto was struggling with his samurai, Sasuke was fighting his own. The samurai swung his katana straight down at Sasuke's head. Sasuke flickered and disappeared from view. The samurai's katana struck wood and Sasuke reappeared behind the guard, his Kusanagi sword already drawn. Sasuke drove the hilt of his sword into the nape of the guard's neck, knocking the samurai out instantly.

Sasuke and Naruto then tried to drag the bodies back to the broom closets. But the large samurai along with their heavy armor made it very difficult.

"Aw, screw it!", Naruto exclaimed, "_Shadow Clone Technique_!"

Instantly, five shadow clones appeared beside Naruto. The six of them picked up both samurai and carried them faster to the broom closets. Soon, Naruto and Sasuke had reached the closets. Sasuke opened up the closet where Kakashi was hiding. Kakashi walked out of the closet and Sasuke threw in the two bodies of the samurai. Naruto knocked on the other closet door.

Sakura crawled out of the closet and looked at the two samurai.

"That looks uncomfortable.", commented Sakura.

Naruto got a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. He reached for the two guards, only to have his hand grabbed by Kakashi.

"We're not trying to permanently scar all the guards, Naruto.", sighed an exasperated Kakashi, "Come on, we're moving." Team 7 ran down the hallway, heading to the daimyo's office.

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End Chapter Three: Hidden Threats

I had to cut out a couple scenes that would have completely destroyed the dark mood. They were pretty funny though. I hope for more reviewers next chapter in "_Red Clouds In Morning_."

P.S. A reward for the first one that can tell me what jutsu Sasuke used to make it appear as though he had teleported.


	4. The Same Eyes

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto. (Insert obligatory funny joke)

**Warnings**: This is rated T for heavy violence, cursing, and torture. And probable character death.

**Author's Notes**: It has come to my attention that all _four_ of my reviewers don't know as much as I do concerning the Naruto universe. I shouldn't need to remind you that there are going to be major spoilers in this fanfiction. I don't want to scare off any of my reviewers, but I don't want to ruin scenes from the manga.

**Author's Notes **(**Con.**): This chapter will reveal the location of Akatsuki's first known hideout. You will all laugh when you read where the organization's hideout was. And yes, Xia Momo Capernicus, it was in a cave. You wouldn't get a reward because it wasn't specific enough, but nobody else even tried to answer my question. So you win by default. Congratulations!

(Hands Xia Momo Capernicus the reward)

_**:UPDATE:**_

Hold on a minute! I just made a mistake. I gave the wrong person the reward!

(Grabs the reward from Xia Momo Capernicus and smacks her)

Sorry 'bout that, here is the real winner!

(Hands _another random writer _the reward)

Now, onto the story.

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_**Red Clouds In Morning **_

_Chapter Four: The Same Eyes _

The sun was high in the sky above the Land of the River. Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were glancing around corners, looking right at two double doors that lead to the daimyo's office. Guarding the doors, were two elite samurai, decked in silver and crimson armor. A direct attack would be suicidal, Team 7 could take them on, but then their cover would be blown and there wouldn't be a chance of completing their mission.

"I think I can…", Naruto began before Sakura cut him off with a simple, "No."

Sasuke was studying the decorated samurai with his Sharingan activated. With his Sharingan activated, Sasuke's vision increased exponentially. It was like putting on the perfect pair of glasses. With his Sharingan, Sasuke could measure the dimensions of the armor and the size of the openings. The silver and scarlet armor was very tight, thus constricted much movement. Sasuke twirled a senbon needle with his fingers, judging whether he could slip a needle through the thin slits in the armor. Sasuke discarded that idea and put the needle back into the lapel of his gray robes. Even if he could throw a needle through the thin slits, the needle wouldn't kill in one hit. Not unless he could hit specific pressure points, and those pressure points were hidden behind the armor.

Sasuke focused more chakra into his Sharingan. The _tomoe_ in his Sharingan slowly spun around his pupil. Now he could see chakra. Sasuke couldn't see the chakra circulatory system, but Sasuke could see what looked like blue fire, slowly swirling around in a general circle throughout the guards' bodies. But there was more, what looked like knots of chakra were inside the armor. They were seals made to defend the wearer of the armor against low powered genjutsus and medium powered ninjutsus. The armor itself was made from high-grade metals, thus protecting the guards from high powered taijutsus as well. As if to make it even harder to attack the guards, there were decorative bells hanging from the shoulder pads and other areas. If the guards moved fast, like to attack, or if they were knocked unconscious, the bells would ring loudly, warning the daimyo of danger.

"They certainly aren't making it easy for us, are they?", muttered Sasuke as he weighed each option that came to him.

"Hey Sakura, could you put those guys to sleep or something?", questioned Naruto.

"That would be too easy.", whispered Sakura, "There must be protection against something like that."

"Sakura is right.", Kakashi said, "My Sharingan is detecting several seals hidden in the lining of the armor."

So if ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu were out of the question, what else does ninja have?, thought Sasuke as he wondered over their situation. 

"Well, we can't just wait for the guard shift to switch. We'd be sitting here forever!", complained Naruto. Sakura's eyes opened with surprise. She reached over and threw her arms over Naruto's shoulders in a quick hug. Naruto's whole body froze up in shock.

"Naruto! You're a genius!", whispered Sakura excitedly. Everyone stared at Sakura as her hands flew in a series of hand-seals.

"Sakura, there is protection against genjutsus! What are you going to do?", whispered Sasuke.

"Those seals protect against weak genjutsu, but if I put a lot of chakra into this, I should be able to infiltrate the enemy's senses.", Sakura explained, "Just watch, I know what I'm doing!"

Sakura thrust her palms at the elite guards. Nothing seemed to be happening. Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but Kakashi moved his finger to intercept the speech. The elite guards suddenly got a strange look in their eyes.

"Is it that time already?", exclaimed the guard on the left.

The large samurai walked away from their posts, leaving the path to the daimyo's office open.

"What did you do, Sakura?!", exclaimed Naruto.

"Simple," said Sakura, "I messed with the guard's sense of time. They are heading to the cafeteria."

The four shinobi quickly dashed to the double doors that lead to the daimyo's office. There wasn't a samurai in sight, so the Kakashi grabbed the handlebars of the doors.

"We're going to have to scare the feudal lord a bit, so get your scary faces ready."

"Sasuke always looks scary!", grinned Naruto.

Sasuke glared at Naruto with his Sharingan. Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, Naruto's eyes were glowing red with slits for pupils. Sakura's usually bright face darkened into what looked like a truly frightening face. Kakashi didn't have to do much besides lift his _hitai-ite_ to reveal his single Sharingan eye. You couldn't make that much more effort when over half of your face was covered.

Kakashi slowly slid open the massive mahogany doors with a loud creaking noise. The room was unsurprisingly large. It was shaped in a circle, with pictures of previous feudal lords hanging high close to the ceiling. The daimyo was facing away from the door, his back to the desk and was looking out a window that opened up the entire wall to the sun. Everyone sneaked inside the room, and Kakashi pulled the doors closed.

The daimyo spoke, "Now, now, what have I said about knocking before you enter?"

The daimyo's voice was kind and soothing, but was underlined with annoyance, meaning that this was a matter spoken about many times before. The daimyo spun on his chair to face his new arrivals. His eyes were closed, and he had a pleasant, if a bit tired smile on his face. Shimizu Hiroshi was a large and stout man, his face wrinkled from years of happy smiles and tear filled laughter. He had white hair that was receding from his brow and long sideburns as white as his pearly teeth. Lord Shimizu wore bright red robes with a white undershirt. His body was free from overly decorative jewels and large golden accessories. Shimizu was a humble man, and his robes were about the most decorative thing on his body, with dark red and crimson slashes weaving around the clothing.

"Please leave me with my morning tea, and return to your…", started Lord Shimizu, his pleasantly plump fingers wrapped around a small cup of herbal tea. Shimizu opened his eyes, and gasped loudly.

"Who are you!", screamed the surprised daimyo as he caught sight of Team 7. Sasuke blurred into motion, his Kusanagi flashing as he bounded on top of the mahogany desk. Sasuke grabbed the daimyo's hand as Shimizu's hand hovered below a small red button. Sasuke held Kusanagi to Lord Shimizu's throat, Sharingan eyes glaring into the daimyo's eyes.

"Don't move a muscle.", deadpanned Sasuke. The rest of the group power walked to the desk, kunais drawn ready. Shimizu Hiroshi stared at the team of ninja.

"So all my security was for nothing?!", rasped the daimyo, Sasuke's Kusanagi still pressed to Shimizu's throat. Sasuke stomped on Shimizu's hand, forcing him to move away from the security alarm.

"We ask the questions around here," said Kakashi, "all you do is answer them."

"I have done nothing wrong!", shouted the daimyo. "All I have done has been to make my country prosper! I have done nothing illegal!"

"Then you won't mind answering our questions."

Sakura was looking at the daimyo with the slightest hint of remorse. Kakashi noted that Naruto was also looking a bit troubled.

"Sakura, Naruto, guard the door and make sure nobody gets in!", growled Kakashi. It wouldn't do to show sympathy to anyone. Sakura looked in surprise at Kakashi's tone of voice, but obeyed nonetheless. Naruto followed his pink haired friend and stood in front of the double doors.

Sasuke grabbed the daimyo's large chin and forced him to stare into Sasuke's Sharingan eyes. The daimyo's eyes began to darken and muddy up. Sasuke's Sharingan genjutsu was taking effect.

"Can you hear me?", asked Sasuke, "Can you understand me?"

The daimyo replied slowly, "Yes."

"Let's start with some simple questions.", suggested Kakashi.

Sasuke nodded. "Have you ever heard of Akatsuki?", questioned Sasuke.

"Yes."

"Where did you hear of them?"

"A messenger from Konoha told me that an evil organization named Akatsuki was using the Land of the River as a hideout.", stuttered Lord Shimizu.

Sasuke nodded. Then pressed on, "Did you know that Akatsuki was hiding in your land?"

The daimyo frowned, "No, of course not! I would never intentionally let criminal ninja inside my land!"

Sasuke could feel some resistance to his genjutsu. Sasuke forced his influence upon Lord Shimizu's mind and repeated the question. Sasuke still got the same answer. Sasuke decided that the daimyo wasn't lying.

"Have you had contact with Akatsuki?", questioned Sasuke. This one would be the deal sealer. If it was a yes, then a lead to Akatsuki's whereabouts might be found.

The daimyo's eyes drifted, he apparently did not want to look into Sasuke's Sharingan. His eyes landed on Sakura.

"Such a pretty lady should not be in such a murderous profession.", said Shimizu Hiroshi.

Sakura walked away from her post and strutted calmly right up to the feudal lord. Sakura pulled out a kunai and stabbed it straight down, everyone jumped and the daimyo turned pale. Sakura had just barely avoided making the feudal lord a eunuch. She twisted the knife into the hard wooden chair and brought her face dangerously close to the daimyo's now pale face.

"Don't just assume that I'm all sugar and spice.", Sakura said all nice and sweet, which completely contrasted her stony glare. Sakura turned on her heel and returned to guard the doors, leaving her kunai in the chair, for added emphasis. Naruto shuddered and looked at Sakura strangely.

"You didn't really…", Naruto began, but Sakura cut him off.

"No, I missed.", Sakura replied, there was a hint of remorse in her answer.

Sasuke shuddered slightly, then turned his attention back to the daimyo.

"Have you had contact with Akatsuki?", grilled Sasuke. They had to get the answer out of him soon. Otherwise the guards would be returning and would catch them.

The daimyo tried to turn away from Sasuke, but Sasuke grabbed Shimizu's chin and forced him to stare further into Sasuke's Sharingan glare.

"Did you or did you not have contact with the organization known as Akatsuki!", growled Sasuke. Lord Shimizu gritted his teeth, trying to break free from Sasuke's genjutsu. Sasuke forced his influence over the feudal lord's mind harder than ever.

"Answer me! Have you had contact with Akatsuki before!", threatened Sasuke. He pressed his Kusanagi into Shimizu's throat harder. Crimson blood began to leak out of Shimizu's neck, dripping down his sweat soaked robes. Suddenly, Shimizu Hiroshi stopped struggling.

"I am going to die aren't I?", whispered the daimyo with newfound peace. Sasuke briefly wondered if he had accidentally projected his own thoughts into Shimizu's mind. Sasuke pulled his Kusanagi away from the bleeding wound.

Shimizu Hiroshi seemed relaxed as he said the words that sealed his fate.

"Yes, I have had secret contact with the criminal organization known as Akatsuki."

"Why?", it was Naruto that asked this question. The troubled look in Naruto's eyes was gone, leaving emptiness.

"We have heard that Akatsuki has been collecting Jinchuriki. We ourselves had a Jinchuriki, a five tailed forest dog, the Gobi. We sealed it into a newly born infant. We have had some trouble controlling the boy as he grew up. And we didn't need him anymore, the Jinchuriki was for war, and we were no longer at war.", Shimizu stated.

"Akatsuki came before me. They said that they would take the Jinchuriki off my hands for a price. The boy was much trouble now, we couldn't handle him for long. Eventually, I agreed to a set price. A few days ago, two of them came to take the boy away. But the boy ran away at the sight of them. He transformed into what looked like the original demon! Then he ran off through the forest.", the daimyo shuddered as he remembered the sight.

"The two members of Akatsuki said they would return for their payment as soon as they retrieved the wild demon. And sure enough, they came back within three days of hunting, the boy slung over one of the member's shoulder. I paid them as agreed, then they disappeared."

Naruto clenched his fist angrily. Naruto was a Jinchuriki, and he despised the word. It made them sound as though they weren't human anymore.

"Wait a minute, you said they arrived a few days ago, then came back three days later!", questioned Sasuke. "Just how long ago was it since they got their payment?"

"They came back last night, almost this morning."

The daimyo broke down crying. He just knew that his life was over, they now knew that he had secret dealings with a criminal organization. If Shimizu had just said no, then this wouldn't have happened.

Kakashi stared in surprise. It hadn't occurred to him, not to anyone, that they were this close to Akatsuki. Could they have been in the building when Team 7 arrived? It was time for the last question.

Sasuke grabbed the broken man's head and forced him to make eye contact.

"Do you know the whereabouts of Akatsuki now?", asked Sasuke. This was the final question, is there going to be a lead or is this another dead end.

"No.", sobbed Shimizu. "All they did was come and go. They didn't tell me where to go to find them.", Shimizu Hiroshi broke down crying again. Sasuke hung his head in defeat and dropped Shimizu. There wasn't much hope that Akatsuki would tell the daimyo where to find them. The daimyo continued sobbing in his hands. Another lead found and lost. And Akatsuki was that much closer to accomplishing their goals.

Lord Shimizu looked up with blurred vision. Another strange look of sudden peace washed over his face.

"You have the same eyes.", noted the daimyo as he studied Sasuke.

For Sasuke, it was like the world stopped. A horrible look dawned on Sasuke's face. He grabbed the broken daimyo, lifted him from his seat, and stared at him with the full force of the Sharingan.

"What did you just say?", hissed Sasuke.

"I said you have the same eyes. The same eyes as one of the men that came to collect the Jinchuriki.", gasped Shimizu. Sasuke flung the daimyo into his chair and pulled out his Kusanagi sword. Kakashi made a move to stop Sasuke, but it was too late.

With an enraged scream, Sasuke drove his Kusanagi into Lord Shimizu Hiroshi's heart, the blade bursting out the back of the chair. Sakura and Naruto gasped at Sasuke's action. Kakashi stared at Sasuke with disappointment. Blood dripped from the sword's tip as Sasuke breathed hard, a look of utter disgust plastered on his face.

The daimyo gurgled and blood oozed out from his throat and mouth and over his desk. Then he fell over, dead. The prosperous reign of Shimizu Hiroshi was over.

"Sasuke!", Sakura screamed, "What have you done! We were supposed to let him have an honorable death!"

Sasuke just wrenched his Kusanagi blade out of the corpse. He swung his blade to wipe the blood off. The blood splattered on top of pictures of Shimizu and his family. Sasuke sheathed his Kusanagi and turned away from the dead daimyo. A blank expression on his face did nothing to answer Sakura's question.

"We have our information. We are leaving.", said Sasuke calmly, as though he hadn't just taken the life away from a person living just one minute ago. His Sharingan however, burned with bitter anger. Sasuke walked past Sakura and Naruto, through the double doors. Kakashi pulled his _hitai-ite_ back over his own Sharingan and followed him.

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other, and quickly followed Kakashi and Sasuke. They didn't dare look back at the carnage behind them. It would be far too much for them to handle. Such emotional outbursts from Uchiha Sasuke were extremely rare, unless it had something to do with his older brother, Uchiha Itachi.

Sasuke now knew that Itachi, the one that had massacred the Uchiha clan ten years ago, was in the Land of the River. And Sasuke was utterly determined not to let his revenge against his older brother go. He would hunt down his brother and make him pay for what Itachi has done. Sasuke couldn't die before he killed Itachi. He would hunt his older brother to his dying breath. Then Sasuke would be complete. These were the thoughts of Uchiha Sasuke, as he led Team 7 away from the daimyo's office. Then he would be complete at last.

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End Chapter Four: The Same Eyes

That was it. The chapter you all have been waiting for. The daimyo of the Land of the River is dead, and Team 7 has to escape before they are killed for their crimes against the country. This fanfiction is going to get darker and darker until the tragedy.

So, did anyone laugh at the location of Akatsuki's first known hideout? I hope so, the shear simplicity of the answer is so utterly simple. I'm surprised nobody got the answer before now.

There are going to be many heavy violent scenes in coming chapters. I think the reason that the first chapter got more reviews than the second and third chapter combined was because the first chapter was very dark. I am hereby returning this fanfiction to the intended darkness. This is not a change of direction as much as returning to the main highway from a slight detour. The funny scenes are done and gone, and I am going to be writing much more diligently.

P.S. There won't be a reward, but I would like to know what chapter you have read up to.


	5. Blood Stained Hands

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto.

**Warnings**: This is rated T for heavy violence, cursing, and torture. And highly probable character death.

**Author's Notes**: A lot of people seemed to get a kick out of learning that Akatsuki's first known hideout is in reality the setting for my entire story. And that nobody realized this before. But some of the people seemed a bit too excited, so now I wonder what exactly you're laughing at. Moving on, this chapter is violent and gory, so I hope you are happy with it. Don't worry, the story won't devolve into a horrid mixture of blood and gore. I have never been a fan of _Gantz_ anyways…I couldn't resist adding that barb in.

ReiKai101: I thought that the hidden location of Akatsuki's hideout was one of my better twists. But is it really that funny that you burst out laughing? You must be insane. And I don't hate Uchiha Itachi. But Sasuke does, so that made him really angry. And I will go way far with this story. Thanks for the review.

ArmorOfGeddon: I hadn't thought of that before, perhaps this story could have a sequel after all. But that would be too troublesome. I might have to deal with that in later chapters. Thanks for pointing that out, and thanks for the review.

Now, onto the story…

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**_Red Clouds In Morning_**

_Chapter Five: Blood Stained Hands _

Sasuke lead Team 7 away from the late daimyo's office, they moved faster than before. They had their information, and all they had to do was to get the hell out of there. The daimyo's body would be found any second, and the foursome had to be far enough away as to avoid most of the guards. At any second, the speakers would blare out warnings and Team 7 would be forced to fight. Even fighting together, nobody thought that Team 7 could battle an entire castle of angry soldiers.

Sasuke leapt down a flight of stairs, not even bothering to glance behind him to see if the rest of his cell was keeping up. Sasuke knew that his teammates were on his tail. He glanced down at his Kusanagi sword, the black blade was still dripping with the daimyo's blood. Sasuke's own hands had been stained crimson by his brutal execution.

Kakashi finally caught up with Sasuke. Kakashi saw that Sasuke was glaring at his Kusanagi. The blood would dull the dark blade if it wasn't cleaned soon. But there were more important things to worry about.

"Something is wrong, they should have found Shimizu's corpse by now.", whispered Sasuke.

"Let's count our blessings and hope we can get farther away before-", Kakashi was cut off by a loud screaming coming from every direction. Apparently, the daimyo's body has been found. The speakers blared out instructions.

"_Lord Shimizu has been murdered! Repeat, Lord Shimizu has been murdered! The attackers are still in the building! Find them and kill them for their crimes! They must not get away_!"

Naruto cursed out loud and pulled out a kunai knife. Sakura gathered chakra into her fists, readying herself for hand to hand combat. Kakashi pulled his _hitai-ite_ up and revealed his Sharingan in his left eye. Sasuke cleaned his Kusanagi by charging it with electricity and burning off the crimson tears, leaving a rather unpleasant smell in the air. Now the hard part began.

Sasuke lead the team down a long hallway, his movements were becoming increasingly rapid. Sakura was finding it harder and harder to keep up with the two Sharingan users as they dashed through the castle. So far, they hadn't been spotted by soldiers or enemy shinobi. But that wouldn't last very long. Naruto had her six, and Sasuke and Kakashi had the front covered. But if they were attacked from the sides, it would be up to Sakura to protect them.

Naruto suddenly heard whizzing from behind him. He spun around to face a barrage of shuriken.

"We're being attacked! Behind us!", shouted Naruto. Naruto crossed his fingers in front of him and five shadow clones materialized around him. The shadow clones each pulled out a kunai and began to deflect the volley of shuriken. One of the shadow clones got stabbed by a shuriken and blew apart into smoke. Naruto threw multiple shuriken and his doppelgangers mimicked his attacks by throwing multitudes of shuriken and kunai. Hundreds upon thousands of shinobi appeared. But only one or two of them had to be real. Naruto reached his right hand out behind him as his left hand held a kunai, a shadow clone began to thrust his hands at Naruto's open palm. A spiraling blue ball of chakra appeared in Naruto's open hand. Naruto concentrated hard, the ball of chakra became transparent as the chakra converted to wind. Naruto dashed at the entire army of illusionary clones with his Rasengan in hand.

"_Wind Style: Spiral Sphere Technique_!", shouted Naruto as he barreled at the clones. Naruto thrust his the wind Rasengan at the approaching army. The Rasengan exploded and a miniature hurricane was released right into one of the clone's stomach. The clones disappeared as the hurricane blew them apart. The original three ninja were lifted up in the air by the hurricane winds and were blown across the hallway. The three shinobi was crushed onto the opposite wall. They slumped down onto the floor in a pool of their own blood. Naruto flashed a foxy grin as he looked over his handiwork. The hallway was effectively torn to pieces with every piece of furniture, wall paintings, and the walls themselves were shredded beyond repair. His foxy grin was dropped as four shinobi appeared and spotted Naruto. The River shinobi jumped toward Naruto with kunais in hand.

"Running away now!", exclaimed Naruto as he ran past his four remaining clones. The clones pulled out two kunai each and jumped toward the approaching ninja. Naruto didn't stay to watch who was going to win. Sakura beckoned Naruto to hurry as Team 7 made a mad dash away from the battle between shadow clones and River shinobi. Four quick bursting sounds made it obvious who won.

Faster and faster Team 7 flew down long hallways and through countless doors. Sasuke rammed his shoulder into a door and blasted it off its hinges. The door lead to a hallway, and Sasuke grabbed the doorframe and pulled himself down the right path. Sakura lost sight of Sasuke, but Kakashi seemed to know where he was going. Faster and faster the ninja of Konoha flew down a flight of stairs and faster and faster the team tried to make their escape alive. Naruto almost got separated from the group as he jumped down the stairs four steps at a time. He caught sight of Sakura's pink hair turning around a corner, so he followed her. It was a tight hallway with a window on the left.

Naruto almost slammed into Sakura's body as he turned the corner. Sakura had made a dead stop. Sakura was staring ahead in horror. Kakashi and Sasuke were right in front of them, and they weren't moving either. Naruto looked in the direction they were looking in and his face adopted a similar horrified look. In front of Team 7 was a battalion of swordsmen, spearmen, elite guards, and shinobi. And every single one of them looked pissed off.

"Oh…", Naruto trailed off as he stared at the miniature army crammed in the tight hallway. There was a tense silence. Naruto started to walk backwards, and the rest of the group turned around to run away. Sakura shouted and pointed to behind Naruto.

"Naruto! Behind you! Look out!", shrieked Sakura.

Naruto bumped into a swordsman as he walked backwards. The swordsman glared at Naruto and reached for the katana hanging at his hip. Naruto pulled out a kunai as the swordsman grabbed his sword and swung it at him. The swing connected with Naruto's kunai and knocked the knife out of his hands. The kunai struck the right wall and clattered onto the wooden floor. The swordsman stepped forward and brought his katana down at Naruto's head in the same movement. Naruto hopped back, and the katana sliced air. A spearman ran out from behind the swordsman and lunged the spear straight at Naruto's stomach. Naruto had no time to dodge and moved his arms to try and intercept the stab. There was a blur of movement and Sasuke was standing in front of Naruto, his Kusanagi in his left hand. Sasuke's action became obvious when the spearhead dropped off the wooden pole.

"What are you waiting for? They killed Lord Shimizu! Kill them now!", screamed an elite guard.

This snapped the rest of the battalion into action. Shuriken, kunai, and javelins flew through the air toward the Konoha ninja. Sakura ran to a wall and wrenched the wall straight out using her massive strength. Kunai and shuriken stabbed into the wall, but a javelin tore straight through the wall and almost stabbed Sakura's abdomen. A sudden explosion blew apart the makeshift barrier. Sakura was thrown onto her bum as flaming debris scattered around her. Sasuke's hands flew in a series of hand-seals as he breathed in deep.

"_Fire Style: Burning Fireball Technique_!", shouted Sasuke. A humongous fireball exploded from Sasuke's lips, and burned toward the oncoming army. The fireball flew at the army, but then disappeared before the two collided. Sasuke shouted in confusion, but had no time to wonder what happened before a barrage of weapons flew at Team 7.

Naruto crossed his fingers in front of him and shouted out, "_Mass Shadow Clone Technique_!"

A battalion of shadow clones appeared around his cell. They whipped out kunai and tried to deflect the incoming barrage of weapons. The shadow clones deflected most of the weapons, but few survived. Kakashi grabbed a shuriken out of the air before it could gouge out his throat. He reached into his pouch and ran to the window on the left wall. He slapped a seal on the window and jumped away. The seal exploded and glass blew out of the castle and down into the courtyard below.

Sakura witnessed this and ran to Kakashi's side. "We can't go out there! Don't you remember the archers?!", shouted Sakura, "It would be suicide to try and do that!"

Kakashi glared at the enemy ninja and looked around the current battle. Sasuke's Kusanagi was flashing rapidly as he deflected blow after blow. Naruto was creating clone after clone to try and keep up with the barrage of weapons. But even Naruto with his massive chakra source was wearing out. This battle couldn't be won.

"It would be suicide to try and stay here! We can't beat all these guys!", shouted Kakashi. "Go, go, go! Out the window and don't stop running for an instant! I'll cover you guys, I won't let a single one of you get hurt!", ordered Kakashi. Kakashi pulled out four kunai and held them in his fingers. Kakashi's left eye burned with the Sharingan as he motioned for his squad to leave him behind.

Sakura crossed her arms in front of her face and dove out the window. Sasuke parried a blow from above and shoulder bummed the samurai before he too swung out the window. Naruto jumped into the window frame, then looked back at his sensei.

"Leave me, I'll be fine! Hurry and escape before it's too late!", shouted Kakashi as he pulled out several explosive seals. Naruto gave Kakashi a look of remorse as he ran out the window. Kakashi turned toward the approaching army and held up four kunai knives with two explosive tags each.

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The moment Sakura cleared the window frame, she heard a peculiar fluttering noise coming from below her. Sakura looked down. What looked like a long line of ants was surrounding the castle.

"Wait, those aren't ants!", realized Sakura.

The ants were in fact men, men armed with bows and arrows. Sakura watched as the source of the fluttering became clear. The bowmen launched their arrows at the pink and red target, her. Sakura jumped out from the window, along the side of the white stone walls. Arrows hailed down on the kunoichi as she raced to a lone square window. The window looked as though it was miles away. Arrows smashed into the stone walls as Sakura used her chakra to run on the vertical surface. Sakura danced along the white walls to dodge arrows. She was getting closer and closer to the window, but the barrage of arrows slowed her progress. Finally, Sakura made it to the window, but she didn't even wait to open it, she simply smashed it open with her fists. Sakura dove into the window, arrows stabbing into the wooden window frame.

Sasuke jumped out the window, and saw Sakura make it to the window. The bowmen were agitated now, they increased their vigilance and fired at the Uchiha. Sasuke's Sharingan predicted where the arrows were going to hit, and Sasuke flew along the white walls. He pulled out his Kusanagi and used the black sword to deflect many arrows. But the hail of arrows came faster and faster.

As Sasuke deflected a barrage of arrows coming his way, Naruto peaked his head out the window. An arrow sunk itself in the window frame just above Naruto's head, surprising the young shinobi.

Naruto crossed his fingers in front of his body and shouted out, "_Mass Shadow Clone Technique_!"

Naruto ran out of the window, then another Naruto, then another. Then it was like floodgates opened and hundreds of shadow clones swarmed from the window like bugs from a smoking hole. They ran in every direction, many were even jumping from rooftop to rooftop, going down to fight the archers head on. A quarter of the archers focused on this group of shadow clones, but the rest of the archers doubled their efforts and launched another volley of arrows. Shadow clones screamed and exploded left and right as Naruto ran along the white walls of the Impenetrable Castle of the River.

"They'll never find the real me.", grinned Naruto as he dodged another arrow. There were simply too many shadow clones to distinguish the original from the clones.

Sasuke almost made it to the window when he heard a scream. It was louder than the screams of the shadow clones. Sasuke turned back and saw every shadow clone disappeared, leaving the one and only Naruto. Naruto fell off the walls and plummeted straight down. Naruto was holding his left leg, a bloody arrow stabbing through his calf. Sasuke cursed out loud and ran straight down toward Naruto. Naruto slammed onto one of the roofs and rolled off. Sasuke dove down to the blonde shinobi, and reached for Naruto's right leg. His fingers brushed Naruto's right calf, and he grabbed Naruto's foot. Sasuke swung Naruto up, being careful not to bang Naruto's bleeding leg. Sasuke jumped up and ran straight toward the window. Arrows sang through the air and sunk themselves around the window, trying to block off Sasuke's exit. Sasuke jumped and threw Naruto into the window and somersaulted inside, an arrow narrowly missing Sasuke's neck.

"Where is Kakashi?!", exclaimed Sakura.

"I don't know, Naruto's been hit, you have got to worry about Kakashi later.", said Sasuke.

Sakura turned Naruto on his back and inspected his leg. Naruto gasped in pain as Sakura gingerly placed her right palm on Naruto's left calf. Sakura whispered words of apology and grasped the arrow hard. She began to twist the arrowhead and tried to screw it off. The arrowhead popped off the arrow shaft and Sakura put her right hand back on Naruto's calf. Her palm glowed green as healing chakra sunk into his leg, numbing it from pain. Sakura grasped the arrow shaft and began to ease it out of Naruto's left leg. Naruto gritted his teeth in pain, the numbing didn't prevent Naruto from feeling the arrow shaft. Finally, a bloody arrow shaft squeezed out of Naruto's leg muscles. Sakura threw it to the ground beside her and pressed both of her hands on top of Naruto's leg, her palms glowing green. She began to reattach muscle tissue and blood veins and arteries. There wasn't much damage to the bones, but that would be very painful once the numbing wore off. As Sakura worked to reattach every torn piece of tissue, a strange and angry red chakra filled the wound.

"The Nine-Tail's chakra!", whispered Sakura in amazement. "It must be here to help heal Naruto's leg."

As Sakura watched, the Kyuubi's chakra swirled around the open wound. The chakra seemed to have absolutely no worries regarding in how to properly heal a wound. As Sakura watched, the chakra filled the tissue and forced it to start to heal itself. Instead of reattaching every strand of tissue like Sakura did, it simply forced it to grow faster than natural. This brutal means of healing would wear out the cells and they would die faster. Sakura tried to reattach as many strands of tissue as she could, but the Kyuubi was 'healing' faster than she was. Soon, the open wound closed itself and forced Sakura's chakra out.

Naruto stood up and squeezed his left leg. He grinned in amazement and gave Sakura a thumbs up.

"It's no wonder that they call you the greatest medical ninja in Konoha! You healed my leg in seconds!", exclaimed Naruto.

Sakura was deep in thought, if the Kyuubi healed every wound like this, Naruto's cells would age and die faster than natural. This might explain Naruto's sudden change of appearance. He was growing old faster than what he should be! Not only that, but forcing cells to grow that fast would most certainly cause the cells to divide unevenly. Uneven cells are cancerous cells, and all of those cancerous cells together might cause a tumor. Naruto's body might be full of tumors from every wound! The cells need proper nutrition before they divide, but the Kyuubi is forcing the cells to divide early. The reason behind Naruto's enormous appetite might be because he is trying to get nutrition to every malnourished cell. If all of this is true, then Naruto might die of old age when he is in his forties! He would look like a seventy year old man when he would really be forty! And all of the tumors might decrease Naruto's life expectancy even further! Sakura couldn't let this happen.

"Naruto, lay back down for a moment!", commanded Sakura.

Naruto looked confused, but obeyed anyways. Sakura slammed her palms on Naruto's calf and flowed her chakra into Naruto's leg. She knew what she was looking for, she was looking for cancerous cells. Sakura probed everywhere, looking for distorted cells. Perhaps her worries wouldn't come to pass, maybe Naruto didn't have tumors. No, there they were. They felt like peas under a mattress to Sakura. Cancerous cells peppered Naruto's left calf. Naruto had cancer. This shocking revelation almost distracted Sakura from what happened next. The same angry chakra flowed back into Naruto's calf. It surrounded the cancerous cells. The cancerous cells dissolved and disappeared. The Kyuubi was protecting Naruto from cancer as well. But Naruto was still aging faster than what he should be. This was irreversible, but if Naruto had constant healing the proper way, then Sakura should be able to slow it down. From here on out, Sakura renewed her vow to protect Naruto from the Demon Fox.

A sudden explosion shattered Sakura's thoughts. The wooden floor rocked under their feet and Sasuke was thrown to the ground. Even Naruto was lifted up into the air a good foot and Sakura was slammed on the nearest wall. Naruto got up and shouted in horror.

"That was Kakashi! He killed all of those bad guys with explosive tags!", exclaimed Naruto in horror.

There was no way that Kakashi could survive that explosion. Sakura realized this and began to sob in grief. They had lost their sensei, just like how Team 10 had lost Sarutobi Asuma, Team 7 had lost Hatake Kakashi. A noble sacrifice to save his comrades, Kakashi had taken out that entire battalion of River soldiers. Naruto buried his face in his hands and wept. Sasuke stared into space and if one looked closely, you might find a tear forming in his Sharingan eyes. But there was no time for grieving, there was a mission to do.

"I can't believe that Kakashi-sensei is dead.", moaned Sakura. She wiped her tears and puffy red eyes. Naruto nodded in grief, and all Sasuke did was close his eyes.

"And here is me without my tape-recorder.", said Kakashi as he sat in the window.

"Kakashi-sensei!", shouted Sakura and Naruto. Sasuke opened his eyes in shock. His eyes had reverted back to their normal state of black. Sakura stood up and socked Kakashi in the arm.

"How long were you standing there?!", exclaimed Sakura as she winded up another punch.

"Aw, I'm touched, and it hurts.", laughed Kakashi as he held his bruised arm. Kakashi looked tired, his clothes looked a bit singed, not to mention his white hair was looking silver again with all the dust and soot in it. But he still looked like the same old casual Hatake Kakashi.

Kakashi didn't know what was worse. Throwing all four explosive kunai and hoping it killed all the enemies, running across the white walls and dodging arrows as the wall exploded, or facing Sakura's scorn. For one thing, it was Sakura's scorn that injured him the most.

"Come on, we are almost out of the castle.", said Kakashi. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all filed behind him as Kakashi raced toward their exfiltration point. Sasuke renewed his Sharingan as they ran to their destination.

Sakura was deep in thought again. Kakashi had hinted that Naruto's change of appearance was linked to his unique relation with the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Could Kakashi have known that Naruto was aging at rapid speeds? Could he have hidden this from his entire cell? These were the thoughts of Sakura as she followed Sasuke down a large stairway. Does Kakashi know that Naruto might die of old age at forty to fifty years old if this continued to happen? Sakura didn't know, but she was determined to find out. Kakashi speaking broke Sakura out of her thoughts. Team 7 was on the bottom floor, and they stood in front of a four-way split.

"Sasuke and I have absolutely no knowledge of this floor. We know that the river pool is on this floor, but that's about it.", said Kakashi. He continued, "We are going to have to split up to find the exit, if you find it, try to seek us out and tell us. Until then, we will meet at this point in exactly thirty minutes.", said Kakashi. He threw down a kunai knife into the floor.

"Now, find the exit!", commanded Kakashi. Naruto took the far right path, Sakura took the second to the right path, Sasuke took the far left path, and Kakashi ran down the second to the left path. Team 7 has separated to find the exit, but only one of them will be able to find it. They must find it before they are found again, but is there enough time?

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End Chapter Five: Blood Stained Hands

That was an over four thousand word chapter. I used the word count to figure that out. Now my fingers are threatening to fall off and throttle me in my sleep.

Who thought that Kakashi had died? I almost killed him off, but then I decided not to. He has too much of an important part later in my story for me to kill him off now. Maybe later, I don't know. That certainly is an idea though.

The next four chapters are going to be in each characters point of view. First up is Naruto's point of view. I hope to get a lot of reviews for this one. It was by far the hardest chapter to squeeze out. Please read and review!

I beg of you, please read and review!

_Next Chapter: Burnt Anger_

P.S. A reward for the first one to tell me what jutsu the three River shinobi used to make it look as though a hundred thousand ninja were attacking Naruto.


	6. Burnt Anger

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. Proof being that Naruto still exists.

**Warnings**: This is rated T for heavy violence, cursing, and torture. And highly probable character death.

**Author's Notes**: This is the sixth chapter in my story, _Red Clouds In Morning_. This chapter will follow Naruto's point of view as he and the rest of Team 7 race to find the exfiltration point. Even though this is Naruto's point of view, there is going to be heavy violence and blood. Not humorous in the least bit. Ok, so maybe there is going to be funnies, but don't expect many. Please read and review my story.

Now, onto the story.

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_Red Clouds In Morning_

_Chapter Six: Burnt Anger_

Uzumaki Naruto raced down the far right path, not even stopping to look back and see where the rest of his team went. Naruto dashed down random hallways, not stopping to think about where he was going. His mind was elsewhere, back at the late daimyo's office and what he heard there. Everyone had told him that the daimyo was a kind, gentle, but strict man. He was everything that Naruto had hoped to be when he became Hokage. Well, Naruto wasn't planning on being that large or paranoid, but the way Lord Shimizu had ruled his country as though it was his greatest treasure was admirable. Naruto had hoped beyond hope that the daimyo was innocent. Naruto had held onto the naïve belief that good men didn't do bad things. But the reasons behind the daimyo's bad actions was purely good, so did that make the actions good? The reason he wanted to be rid of the Jinchuriki was because it was becoming harmful to the Land of the River. But did he have to associate with a criminal organization like Akatsuki? All of this hurt Naruto's head, so he pushed those confusing thoughts to the back of his head and focused on his current assignment .

Naruto flew down hallways and raced around corners at a completely random impulses. Naruto ran blindly through pathways, rooms, and around corners. Naruto gave a wooden mahogany door a good kick to knock it off its brass hinges. The door hinges buckled under the blow and Naruto shoulder butted the door and ripped the door out of the doorframe. The room was a training combat room, with slashed straw dummies, targets with bull's-eyes on them, and weighted training weapons hanging on racks on the walls. Even the walls themselves had cracked from some heavy training. Naruto picked up a weighted training katana. The sword was much heavier than it looked, even Naruto was struggling to hold it. The blade was dull, as so the training dummies it was used on didn't break apart. Naruto heaved the sword back on the rack and ran out of the room in a hurry.

Naruto didn't have the foggiest of where he was or where he came from. Perhaps this was a bad time to think about leaving land marks. Naruto scratched his head, trying to figure out a way of finding his way back. Hey, that was an idea. Naruto crossed his fingers in front if his body.

"_Shadow Clone Technique_!", exclaimed Naruto. Seven shadow replications appeared around Naruto. The doppelgangers nodded in understanding of what do to. They were exact replications of Naruto, so they knew what he was thinking when he made them. The shadow clones separated and ran down random hallways and around corners and basically got just as lost as Naruto did. They were supposed to find a way back to the starting point, then when one of them found it, it would dispel itself and the information would be spread throughout every clone and Naruto himself. Naruto didn't have a better idea. Naruto ran in a different direction than where he sent the clones.

Naruto continued to race around the bottom floor, hoping that whatever he was doing was the right thing. It didn't take long before something popped into Naruto's head. Apparently a clone had found the starting point. Naruto burned the information in his head, this was something that he was taught how to do in the ninja academy. The trouble Naruto had was listening to the information in the first place. The other six clones dispelled themselves and gave the information they had gathered to Naruto. Combined with all of the wandering he has done throughout the bottom floor, Naruto now had a very rough idea of what the bottom floor looked like. But he still didn't have any idea of where the exfiltration point was.

Naruto ran toward a hallway that split in two, and got an idea. As Naruto ran to the left, he created a shadow clone to go to the right. He had used this tactic before when he was running through Orochimaru's hideout. The shadow clone would race around and dispel itself in a few minutes and Naruto would have another piece of the puzzle. Naruto would do this at every split and eventually would find the exit point.

"I'll be sure to beat Sasuke!", Naruto grinned at his own genius. As Naruto dashed around corners implementing his plan, he started to get more and more pieces of the puzzling floor. However, Naruto found that he wasn't quite recovered from the battle upstairs and the wear and tear began to weigh heavily on his shoulders. Eventually, he stopped at one corner and summoned up a weakly shadow clone. Naruto stared at the clone in despair.

"You look awful.", commented the clone.

"Well you look exactly like me so you just insulted yourself, you retard!", complained Naruto through heavy breathing.

"I am exactly like you so you just call yourself a retard!", weakly laughed the shadow clone.

"Shut up and explore the floor while I lay here and die.", moaned Naruto as he slumped on the floor. The shadow clone turned and walked a few steps before disappearing in a burst of smoke. Naruto flipped the dead clone the birdie and laid on the floor to catch his breath. Soon, more information began to fill up Naruto's exhausted mind. Naruto just couldn't piece together all of the data before his weary mind dumped it all. Naruto crawled over to the nearest wall and propped himself up into a sitting position.

"Ok, maybe that wasn't my best idea yet.", muttered Naruto as his body tried to fall asleep.

"Where's some food pills when you need it?", whined Naruto. If he had food pills, he could fight for three days in a row! But Sakura had all the medical pills and she didn't trust Naruto with any of them. All she said was that Naruto needed to learn how to conserve his chakra like everyone else or some crap like that. Naruto wasn't listening at that particular moment. Maybe if Naruto begged hard enough Sakura would listen to him.

Naruto did have another source of chakra, albeit a less reliable source. The Kyuubi no Yoko often didn't give Naruto all the chakra he wanted. _Stupid furball doesn't know who's boss in my body_, thought Naruto angrily. _It's not like it would be hard, the stupid fox is just a stubborn bastard_.

Naruto sighed in exhaustion. It was worth a try though. Naruto has learned how to communicate with the Kyuubi sealed inside him. Naruto slipped into his sub-conscious, he did this through heavy meditation. But the Kyuubi was not in Naruto's sub-conscious. So Naruto slipped into an even lower sub-conscious, the sub-sub-conscious…

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Naruto heard a low rumbling that resonated throughout the entire level. He knew what the rumbling was.

"Hey! You stupid fox! Wake up!", shouted Naruto. The effect was immediate. The space became brightly light, revealing that Naruto was standing in what looked like a sewer system. The sewers represented Naruto's mind. There was a humongous gate looming in front of Naruto's vision. The glowing appeared to be all around the massive cage, but the inside of the cage was completely dark. Then, two of the largest eyes Naruto has ever seen opened. The flaming eyes were blood red and glowed with annoyance.

**_"Why do you always come to me when you are in trouble?"_**, rumbled the great beast.

"You haven't been paying your rent lately! How am I supposed to keep up my appearances of 'Konoha's Red Demon', if you don't give me your chakra!", shouted Naruto.

The Kyuubi shut its eyes closed shut, and the inside of the cage grew dark. Suddenly, a tidal wave of blood red chakra pooled out from underneath the cage gates. The head of the Kyuubi reared up from the bubbling energy. The Kyuubi roared angrily in Naruto's face, each of the demon's fangs was larger than Naruto's entire body. Naruto was forced to take a step backwards from the force of the roar. The Kyuubi stared at Naruto with pure disgust etched across his beastly features.

**_"That speech was admirable when you first staked claim to my chakra, but I do not pay 'rent' like a voluntary tenant!"_**, growled the demonic fox. **_"You should thank me for the little energy I give you."_**

The Kyuubi gave Naruto a hard look, Naruto glared at the demon with equal ferocity. The Demon Fox grunted and a pool of chakra swirled around Naruto's body. The young shinobi could feel his energy returning to him, but he still wasn't satisfied.

"That's it?! I could have gotten more energy while meditating this whole time!", shouted Naruto.

**_"Keep the change."_**

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Naruto awoke with a feeling of renewed energy, but he was still pissed off. But there was no time to try and shake the furball's cage for more chakra. Naruto was still on a mission, and he was lucky that he wasn't attacked before he returned. Naruto hopped to his feet, and dashed down a random hallway.

As Naruto turned around the umpteenth corner, he was surprised to see four swordsmen on the opposite end of the hallway. One of the swordsmen pointed at Naruto and shouted. The four swordsmen dashed down the hallway, moving so fast that Naruto didn't have time to think of a good strategy. As the samurai drew close, a plan popped into Naruto's head. But first he would need to slow down the swordsmen. Naruto grinned from ear to ear as he prepared. He took out two kunai and threw them at the approaching soldiers. The two kunai stabbed into opposite walls, one explosive seal on each kunai. The swordsmen stopped in their tracks and dove backwards to the floor. Twin explosions blew apart large hunks of plaster and scattered debris all over the hallway. Before the smoke had a chance to clear, Naruto was already flying through a series of hand-seals. A samurai exploded from the smoke and charged straight at Naruto. Naruto ended the hand-signs by crossing his fingers in front of his body.

_"Art of The Shadow Clone Technique: Hidden Smoke Formation!"_, shouted Naruto as the lone swordsman lunged at him.

There was a sudden burst of chakra unlike anything the samurai had ever felt, the energy felt as though it were angry and the air itself hurt. The chakra filled the hallway with its fury, causing the lone soldier to slow in his charge. The chakra then dissolved into extremely heavy smoke, thicker than any smokescreen and blacker than a thunderhead storm. The swordsman quickened his steps and thrust his katana into the heart of the storm. The sword hit thick air, Naruto was no longer there.

"Watch out! The ninja is still around here somewhere!", shouted the samurai. His voice was muffled in the heavy smoke, he could barely hear himself. The samurai retraced his steps, hoping to get back to his teammates before disaster struck. The soldier could barely see his blade in front of his face, he couldn't see two feet in front of him. The smoke distorted his sense of distance, he couldn't tell whether he had moved one foot, or into an entirely different hallway. For all he knew, his teammates could be standing directly beside him. Suddenly, the samurai's sword clanged against something. The samurai felt along where he thought his sword was. He felt smooth wallpaper, but that did not make any sense, he had walked straight backwards. He shouldn't have walked into the side walls, that made no sense! He began to feel along the walls, hoping that whatever direction he was moving in was the direction of his comrades. The smoke was suffocating, his eyes were watering from the stench of burned hatred. He did not know where the elusive ninja was, for all he knew, the shinobi could be on the ceiling above him.

"At least the ninja can't see any better in here than I can.", mumbled the optimistic soldier. All of the sudden, the samurai felt cold steel pressed to his jugular.

"That may be true," said Naruto, "but that doesn't hinder me in the slightest."

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The other three samurai were having just as much trouble as the first. Even though they were standing close together, they didn't know it. The distance felt like miles through the thick smoke. Even now, as they searched for each other, they were moving in separate directions. They were shouting out for each other, but it sounded as though it was coming from every direction. Thin strands of light might poke out every once in a long while, but other than that, it was completely black under the heavy cloud. Their sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, time, distance, and direction was taken away from them in this chakra-enhanced smoke. The overwhelming feeling of sheer uncertainty was driving the helpless soldiers mad. And it had only just begun…

One of the samurai inched his way down what he hoped what was the hallway. He couldn't even see the floor beneath his feet, the smoke was so thick. It felt like he was walking on a cloud. But for all he knew, the shinobi could have thrown down _makibishi_ spikes. The samurai was scooting his way down the hallway to avoid _makibishi_ spikes.

As the samurai shuffled his way to what he hoped was the edge of the cloud, he heard what sounded like tapping coming his way. And in this atmosphere, when you hear anything, it means it is directly beside you. The samurai quickly drew his blade and spun on his heels to face the tapping. A few strands of light revealed an orange blur sliding on the floor toward him. The samurai stabbed the katana straight down into the figure's chest. The figure struggled for a moment, then disappeared in a burst of smoke. The samurai was surprised to see how weak the figure was. He laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of his fears.

"Hey!", he shouted into the darkness, "These things are complete wimps! They die after one blow! We can beat them easily!"

There was no reply, but the samurai felt exhilarated nonetheless. He was back on top, and no wimpy clones could tear him down. He was the hunter again, not the hunted.

The arrogant samurai pulled himself into a defensive stance. The soldier crouched down and waited. _There_, he could feel the sudden changes in the thick air behind him. He rolled forward and twisted around to face his attacker. He stabbed straight at an orange figure, and the figure impaled himself onto the samurai's katana before disappearing into smoke. Suddenly, another orange clone popped out from the smoke and kicked samurai's wrist, forcing him to drop his sword. Surprised, the samurai quickly reached for his _wakizashi_, his side sword. Clones flew toward the disarmed soldier and launched the samurai into the air with a quick series of punches. As the injured samurai flew into the air, several more clones appeared around him and knocked him higher into the air with uppercuts, before exploding and launching the swordsman even higher!

As he reached the peak of his flight, the samurai heard a battle cry, "_Shadow Clone Secret Technique, No-Escape Shuriken Barrage!_"

The arrogant samurai screamed as he heard the last sound he would ever hear. The whizzing of a hundred shuriken coming from all directions…

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A samurai heard a scream coming from all directions. The samurai shuddered and wondered what could be happening. He pulled his sword out and faced the dark shadows of the thick smoke. He backed up slowly, turning to face random directions. He was not going to get beaten now. The soldier has gone through too much training to let his guard down. The shinobi could even transform into one of his comrades, to sneak in a stealthy kill. Nothing was getting by this one.

The samurai trekked backwards, trying to find the exit of this horrendous smokescreen. His sword caught a slender stream of light, the air seemed to be getting thinner over here. Perhaps this was the way to the exit. The samurai held his sword in front of him, and made a mad dash toward the edge of the thick cloud. As he ran faster and faster, the air thickness began to fluctuate rapidly. It was thick enough to cut one second, and thin enough to see through the next. The samurai stopped in his tracks, horror dawned on his face when realization struck him. He grabbed his _wakizashi_ and slid the short sword out of its sheath. The disillusioned samurai stabbed his side blade into the wooden floors beneath him. The sword caught a strand of light, causing the blade to shine brightly. The soldier turned and dashed down the path before him, not stopping to look back. As he ran faster than before, the air began to thicken and thin like before. But this time, the samurai knew what he was doing. A light appeared before his eyes, so the samurai ran toward it. It was his _wakizashi_ that he had set a while back. The samurai had been running in circles this entire time.

The samurai smiled, now he knew that the reason behind the fluctuating air thickness. This reinforced his belief that the thinning air was toward the edge of the cloud. But how was he going to head straight when he seemed to turn subconsciously? The samurai sheathed his side sword and sat down in meditation. But this thick smoke reeked of charcoaled anger and his mind swam as he tried to focus on his current dilemma. The floors seemed to tilt as he fought to keep his focus on his troubling situation. A pounding ringed in his ears as the samurai's concentration swayed. He slammed his fist onto the hard wooden floor. The samurai's lips curved upwards, he had an idea.

The samurai swept the floor with his hands to wipe away the smoke that covered the floors. The wooden floor appeared through the thick air. He observed the direction of the graining of the wood. The wood graining pointed toward the thickening smoke. So all he had to do was head the opposite direction as the graining of the wooden floors. He crawled on his hands and knees, wiping away the smoke on the floor as he went. The samurai found his hands beginning to turn away from the direction set before him. But now he had a way to tell when he was straying from the path. He readjusted himself and worked his way toward the exit. The air continued to thin as the samurai moved toward the edge of the cloud. At any moment, he would find himself out of the accursed smoke alive. He would cry for help and gather the army of the Land of the River and together, they would kill the four shinobi that murdered Lord Shimizu.

All of the sudden, he felt his hand drop into some warm liquid. The samurai pulled his hand away and scrutinized the substance on his palm. Crimson blood dripped from his fingertips. The samurai shouted in despair and he fell backwards. There was a body lying on the floor in front of him. The body was covered in blood, from head to toe. Torn gashes and shredded wounds marked the entire carcass. The person had his mouth open in a scream while he died.

The samurai dashed down into the smoke, trying to escape the image of the mutilated corpse. Pain tore through his stomach as he imagined what could have happened. The samurai doubled over and knelt down on his knees, coughing and gagging. He struggled to his feet and began to run in a random direction. The samurai knew that if he didn't fight his way out of here, he was going to die.

A shadow flickered in and out of view. The samurai dashed toward the figure's position and slid his katana out of its sheath. Anger replaced panic as he dropped into a defensive stance. He was _not_ going to die a weeping coward. He stood still, not moving, just glancing left and right. The air stood still, time passed and yet the samurai still did not move a muscle. As time passed, a few figures appeared in the smoke. The samurai still did not move, he now had an idea how the technique worked. More and more figures appeared, surrounding the samurai. But still, not a single one attacked. The samurai smiled at his own genius. He now knew the weakness of the jutsu.

It was simple logic. If you couldn't see through the smoke, then neither could your opponent. Not even the fabled Sharingan could see through smoke this thick. So how did he find him and the poor soul, the samurai didn't know exactly how, so he took a chance. The reason that the multitude of shadow clones didn't attack was because they didn't know where he was. The cloud must be laced with chakra strands that are prevented the cloud from dispersing. But not only did this keep the smoke in, it serves another purpose. When someone walked through the strands of invisible chakra, it must send a signal to the original. A signal like the vibrations of a spider's web when its prey struggles in its web. The reason the shadow clones were surrounding is because was this is where he last moved.

To test this theory, the samurai shifted into an offensive stance. Immediately, the clones turned toward him. Now they knew where he was.

Perfect.

One of the shadowy figures stepped forward, groping in the darkness. The samurai stepped toward him and stabbed his katana into the enemy's left pectoral. The clone gasped in horror before dissolving into smoke. The air exploded as the legion of clones charged at the lone samurai. He spun around, swinging his sword horizontally at the battalion. He felt his blade cut through three clones and spun to face the closest group. Four clones hurled themselves at him from all directions, the swordsman whirled his blade upwards in a circular spin. He cut two apart, dropped another with a side-kick, and impaled the fourth. He was not going to die without a fair fight.

More and more clones fell to the soldier's lightning fast sword. He never stopped moving for a breath, just kept cutting and slicing and shredding. His anger fueled his never ending combination of swings and stabs. A single clone burst forth from the thickening smoke and kicked at the samurai's face. The swordsman brought up his _wakizashi_ to block the blow before running his longer katana through the clone's chest. Before that clone dissolved, another charged through the smoke and tackled the swordsman. The swordsman brought his knee up into the clone and brought the hilt of his sword down on the replication's noggin.

Two clones leapt from the black smoke and simultaneously kicked both his _wakizashi_ and his katana out of the samurai's hands and another one drove its fist into the samurai's face. As the samurai fell backwards, four more clones slide under him and launched him into the air with a rapid series of vault kicks while shouting.

"U!"

"Zu!"

"Ma!"

"Ki!"

The clones exploded and flung the injured samurai flew higher into the air. Three more clones appeared underneath him and knocked him even higher into the air while shouting.

"Na!"

"Ru!"

"To!"

Then those three blew apart violently and the explosion carried the doomed samurai even higher into the air. The samurai flew so high, he left the cloud of smoke beneath him. Light flooded his eyes as he adjusted from pitch black to bright white. The smoke looked something like a churning hurricane below him. Motion brought his attention to the ceiling above him. Two clones and the original Naruto ran on the bottom of the ceiling directly above him. The trio stopped directly above him and the three ninja jumped straight down toward the samurai. The two clones made four identical hand seals. They both exploded into smoke and the original crossed his arms in front of him and reached into the smoke. Uzumaki Naruto pulled two double-bladed swords out of the smoke. As he dropped down at the doomed samurai he shouted out.

"Shadow Sword Flurry!"

Naruto stabbed his swords randomly down into the airborne soldier. The samurai raised his arms to block the flurry of stabs, but ultimately failed. Naruto finished it by running both of the blades into the soldier's chest and into the ground, pinning him on top of the wooden floor. The samurai struggled for a moment, then his arms dropped to his sides as his spirit passed to the next life.

Naruto stood over the samurai's corpse, he was breathing heavily. There was one more samurai left. And it looks like he was nearby. Naruto bent over and placed his hand down on the samurai's face then slid his palm down, closing the soldier's eyes forever.

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The final samurai heard shouting in the distance. He was not the bravest of his squad, proof being that he was quaking in his sandals. He wasn't the first one to retreat, but he didn't want to die, not like this. If he was to die, he would rather die his own way. Not at the hands of a horrible enemy, not like that. The soldier instinctively reached for his _wakizashi_, part of him trying to commit suicide. He looked down in horror at his blade, the tip pointing at his stomach. No, suicide was the coward's way out. But he couldn't fight a ninja! Taking a throwing star to the stomach would be much more painful than just slitting his own throat. But if he committed suicide, then there wouldn't be a chance of him getting out of this alive! He sheathed his short sword and pulled out his katana.

He began to breath through his nose, and out of his mouth. In and out, in and out. He calmed down somewhat, but his knees still shook. No matter, he wouldn't be caught dead curled in a fetal position, that was better. All he needed to do was think of a way to survive this.

An idea popped in his head. It was risky, but not as risky as trying to face such a powerful foe. It may be humiliating, but even the most proud kings would humble themselves to keep their lives. The samurai nodded his head, it was the only thing his panicked mind could think of.

The soldier sheathed his katana and kneeled to the floor. His forehead pressed to the cold floor and arms stretched in front of him. In this position, he waited. What felt like hours passed. Perhaps the ninja had forgotten he was here? But wait, what was that noise?

The samurai tilted his head slightly, trying to catch a glimpse of what made that noise. His face paled to match the color of a ghost. Standing in a circle around him was a legion of clones. Each one looked like the original, and none of them looked friendly. The humbled swordsman pressed his forehead back onto the floor, his sweat dripping down his face.

The clones seemed to be arguing amongst themselves. The samurai caught snippets of speech.

"He is a dirty coward, he doesn't deserve to live."

"He is 'bout to piss his pants, he disgusts me."

"Wonder what would happen if I cut off one of his fingers."

"It could be a trap, be careful."

"I'm about to die of boredom, let's make a decision now."

The samurai trembled under the glare of a thousand clones. It didn't look like he was going to make it through this one. All the clones turned their attention to one of them. It must be the original. The original stood above the cowardly soldier. He was twirling a kunai in his right hand. He stopped the knife in a downward point. Naruto lifted the kunai high above his head. The samurai cringed and realized that he was going to die.

Naruto stabbed the kunai down, but at the last moment he lifted his arm and drove his elbow down on the nape of the coward's neck, effectively knocking him out. The soldier grunted and dropped on his side. The legion of clones dropped their scary faces. It had been a ruse to make the samurai scared for his life. Naruto had no intention of killing the poor man. Naruto sighed, looks like his chapter was about to end.

Naruto clapped his hands together. Almost instantaneously, the smoke vanished. Harsh bright light filled the hallway and burned Naruto's retinas. He blinked madly and looked around at the clones around him. Each one was a direct replication of him. His strength was their strength. Naruto flashed a foxy grin and all of his replications mimicked his smile. He had gotten stronger, that was completely undisputable. But there wasn't time for celebration, there still was an exit to find and Naruto wasn't going to let Sasuke find it first. He looked around at all the clones around him.

"What are we standing around for! Go and find the exit! Don't let Sasuke win!", shouted Naruto. All the clones stood in attention. "Separate into pairs of four or five! Stick together and when you find the exit, disappear and relay all the information to the rest of us. When this happens, find Sakura and the others."

All the clones quickly paired up and dashed off in random directions. No way was Sasuke going to win this one, thought Naruto as he raced down a random hallway to find the exit. No way am I gonna let Sasuke beat me!

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End Chapter Six: Burnt Anger

Hallelujah! I finally got this five thousand word chapter out! I feel so much better now. Now I need to sleep for the next week…

Next chapter is going to be through Sakura's point of view. Even though Sakura is going to be the central character in the next chapter, there is still going to be absolutely no romance. Please read and review!

Next chapter: The Pulsing Diamond

I hope to get a whole lot of reviews for this. It took forever to get this out. Plus I have been grounded for a week, so that might have slowed down my speed. Season's blessings to you all!

P.S. A reward to the first one to tell me what saying the title of my story, _Red Clouds In Morning_, is off of and what the last part of the verse is.


	7. The Pulsing Diamond

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto or its characters. Hell, I don't even own the setting of this story.

**Warnings**: This is rated T for heavy violence, cursing, and torture. And highly probable character death.

**Author's Notes**: This chapter is centered around Sakura's point of view as she tries to locate the exfiltration point. This chapter will contain high amounts of violence, some suggestive material, and slight gore. Now, onto the reviews.

ArmorOfGeddon: When I read your review, I felt like I had more points stabbed into me than that arrogant samurai. The one that was on the receiving end of Naruto's shuriken barrage. You said that I made Naruto seem like a heartless killing machine, exactly what I said Naruto wasn't going to be. Looking back, I can easily tell where you came from. Naruto butchered those samurai without hesitation. You said that the last scene was highly hypocritical and sickening. I guess I did over do it. I had wanted to reveal a few of Naruto's new tricks, but then I went overboard. But thanks to your critical review, I have drawn inspiration and now I have come up with a way to add this to my story in an interesting way. Thanks for pointing that out. I have edited the last couple of scenes slightly to make Naruto more believable. Now please continue with your barrage of pointy words. But can you please have some positive comments as well?

Xia Momo Capernicus: I was confused on who you were for a while. Then I figured it out. You're FuriidamulovesTokioHotel117! You changed your name you! Now I have to go back and edit all my previous chapters slightly. I shall hate you forever and ever for putting me through all this! Never mind that you're my most frequent reviewer, I shall hunt you down! Believe it!

Now, onto the story…

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_**Red Clouds In Morning **_

_Chapter Seven: The Pulsing Diamond _

Two Naruto clones were running down a wide and decorative passage. The hall was decked with beautiful paintings and highly expensive artifacts. But more importantly, there was an information board for tourists hanging on one of the rich walls. The information board held directions for every exhibit on that floor. Including the river pool. The river pool was apparently through this hallway. The hall turned to the right, down a small flight of stairs. The duo ran down the stairs, two steps at a time with excitement adding a spring to their step. The clones entered a smaller hallway with stone walls. The hallway ran straight with only a small split that headed toward the boiler room. Both of the clones flew down the long corridor until it turned to the left. A large double door loomed in front of them. Beside the large doors was a poster with pool rules displayed on it. They had found the exit!

Both of the clones grasped a door handle and wrenched it open. A gorgeous sight beheld them. A massive river flowed peacefully under brightly lit ceilings. The great river smashed onto a massive gate, the turbulent waters gushed through diamond shaped holes. The gate calmed the river's flow as well as letting in sunlight that reflected off the humbled river's surface, creating dazzling light shows. The river seemed to be almost motionless as it continued its path through the designated swimming area to the opposite wall. This wall was a gate as well, but the holes were much, much smaller. This was as so that no infants could slip through. There were rows upon rows of neatly lined tanning chairs. But four of the chairs were larger and much more decorated. The clones guessed that those were for the royal family.

The great river looked warm and inviting, but the clones couldn't let themselves get distracted by the lovely swimming pool. They quickly searched around the entire room, from under the chairs, to through the food stalls, even up in the rafters and ceiling. No enemy was in sight. Both the clones sighed in relief, their backs to the river. Both of them disappeared, sending the information they had gathered to the rest of the clones. But what neither of them saw was a small ripple of water moving _against_ the current…

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Haruno Sakura was still trying to locate the exfiltration point. She had taken the route next to Naruto's. Sakura wasn't sure why, but it was entirely instinctive. She had a strong urge to protect Naruto from using the Nine-Tailed Demon's chakra. He must not know how much it was hurting him, other wise he wouldn't use it so much. Each time he used the Kyuubi's chakra, the seal on his stomach weakened and a little more of the Demon's spirit escapes into Naruto's body. Not only that, but each time the Kyuubi heals Naruto's wounds, he, or _it_ for that matter, makes Naruto age a little bit faster

The kunoichi quickened her pace through the labyrinth. Sakura didn't run at all, nor did she even sprint. She had an amazing memory, so she was sure that she wasn't going to get lost. But it never hurt to keep a fair pace so she didn't lose herself in this massive floor. It was times like this that Sakura wished she had the Sharingan. The photographic eye would prove to be invaluable in this situation. She quickened her pace to a sprint, her mind utterly focused on locating the exit.

As Sakura jogged around the umpteenth corner, a group of four elite samurai entered her view. She back-peddled and pressed herself against the corner. It didn't look like the soldiers had spotted her, but they were speaking to each other. The stealthy kunoichi focused on what the soldiers were saying.

"God, I think I vomited in my mouth a little back there!", moaned of the elite samurai. He had removed his ghoulish mask and looked a bit green in the face. None of the samurai looked good for that matter.

"Whomever butchered those guys is one son of a…", he trailed off, letting his words hang in the air. The four of them bowed their heads, a morbid darkness around them. Sakura used this chance to run in the opposite direction. Her mind was deep in thought, who was the person that they were talking about. What had happened? It must have been one of her squad members. Could it have been Sasuke? He was rather ruthless in battle. But she couldn't rule out Kakashi or Naruto.

But it didn't _matter_! She had to find the exit! Sakura shook her head in frustration and flung those thoughts to the back of her mind. Tension was running high now that soldiers are patrolling the level. Sakura had thought that if she wasn't caught, she wouldn't have to fight. But now it didn't matter anymore. Everyone knew that the intruders was on this floor, so it was only a matter of time before this entire level was swarming with enemy ninja. The situation was looking rather grim.

Sakura slinked up to a corner, and peered around the edge. It was a simple but long hallway with bare plaster and wooden walls, a short ceiling with a few simple lights, and rather plain tiles decorating the floor. The hall looked plain and simple, but it reeked with danger to Sakura. It was the only way though, so the kunoichi pulled out a kunai and dashed down the passage as fast as she could.

All of the sudden, shouting could be heard coming down the hall in front of her. Sakura cursed out loud and turned to run back. It was too late. Four samurai soldiers barged into the hall. The swordsmen quickly spotted Sakura and ran after her. She spun around to face the approaching soldiers. Sakura dropped into her fighting stance. It was a rather suggestive stance that requiring her to tip her body slightly as to enhance her womanly features. Her buttocks stuck out in a subtle way and her upper body faced the soldiers. Her cheeks adopted a light blush and her eyes became watery at the sight of the _fearsome_ samurai. And to top it all off, she added a very slight tremble to her lower lip. Sakura got that idea from Hyuuga Hinata. All of this was supposed to make it appear as though she was more of a lost little girl than a full fledged kunoichi. And it was apparently working, judging from the looks the soldiers was giving her.

The lecherous stares Sakura's stance was attracting her was providing more than just a distraction. It was motivating Sakura as well. Right now, it was taking considerable amounts of willpower to _not_ take a kunai knife and castrate the four samurai in the most painful way imaginable. The four soldiers apparently didn't sense the danger as they reached for their katanas. The four amateur samurai dashed down the hall toward Sakura, whooping as they ran.

"_These guys are obviously not professional in the least bit_.", thought Sakura. "_A professional soldier never underestimates the enemy, especially a female kunoichi. I might as well take advantage of their idiocy_.", Sakura bit her lower lip to prevent herself from grinning.

The fastest samurai pulled out his katana and slashed it toward Sakura. The swing was shallow and aimed not for Sakura's body but for her clothes. Sakura wasn't going to let any damn perverts catch her. Before the swing could do any damage, she stepped to her right and ducked extremely low, her pink hair brushing the floor. Sakura glanced up into the lecherous soldier's eyes, her glare filled with malicious, albeit justified, fury. The enraged kunoichi stepped back into her previous position and swung the back of her left fist against the flat side of the blade, knocking the sword out of the befuddled samurai's grasp. She continued to move with the attack by pulling back her right fist, sliding her right foot forward, and drove a chakra-enhanced open palm strike to the samurai's abdomen. There was a brief period where time seemed to hold still. This allowed Sakura to see the look on her assailant's face.

Priceless.

The brief, yet satisfying, moment ended with the soldier flying almost perfectly parallel to the floor. He careened through the hall and slammed into two of his partners. The three of them tumbled to the floor in a piled heap. The fourth one stopped in his tracks and stared at his comrades. He turned to face Sakura, who was no longer playing the cute and innocent damsel. He paled at the look of utter hatred etched across the kunoichi's face. She dropped back down into her fighting stance, without the suggestive emphasis. Sakura's fists ignited with fiery blue chakra as she prepared herself for a serious battle. She had taken out one of the soldiers, three more to go.

The two samurai crawled out from under their unconscious comrade and hopped to their feet.

"That bitch was playing with us the entire time!", exclaimed one of them.

The three remaining soldiers charged toward Sakura. She pulled out two kunai knives and pulled herself into a defensive stance. The second fastest leapt at her and brought his katana down at her head. Sakura charged her left arm with chakra and blocked the swing with the left dagger, the enhancement allowing her to hold back the attack with one hand. She stabbed the kunai in her right hand toward the samurai's neck, but to her surprise, another samurai jumped out from behind the first and parried her stab. She charged her other arm with chakra, keeping both of the soldiers at bay easily with her monstrous strength. A blur out of the corner of her left eye brought her attention to the third samurai. He swung his sword at her neck, intending to decapitate her.

Sakura instinctively flowed chakra to her thighs and disappeared in a flicker, although she was forced to drop both of her kunai knives. The fatal blow missed and the group of soldiers readied themselves for another attack. Sakura's hands flew through a quick series of hand seals.

"_Ninja Arts: Swords Into Snakes!"_, exclaimed Sakura.

She thrust her open palm at the approaching samurai. The samurai stopped in their tracks, a look of confusion and worry displayed on their faces. Sakura's slowly smiled, her usually bright eyes were now dark and clouded. The second soldier felt a strange wiggle in his hands. He looked down and screamed in horror. His katana had been transformed into a huge black snake. The other samurai shouted in union as their weapons coiled around their wrists. The swords had been transformed into serpents. Even the _wakizashi_ swords were now coiling around the soldier's waists. The soldier's screams echoed off the walls as they struggled to tear off the serpentine monstrosities. The snake's bit and tore at the flesh as the soldier's grasped the serpents. Blood poured down the samurai's arms as the serpents continued to nip at the samurai. Sakura clapped her palms and the snakes immediately unwrapped themselves and dropped to the floor. The scarred samurai ran for their lives shouting in terror. They picked up their unconscious comrade and dragged him as the squad of samurai escaped with their lives.

Sakura dropped the whole "evil witch" act and smiled as the soldiers disappeared from view. She walked over to the snakes and released the jutsu. The snakes immediately transformed back into swords, the technique was a genjutsu. The reason that the snake's had actually inflicted wounds was because the samurai's brain had actually believed that the snakes were real and were biting them. The mind could damage the body if it really believed that the body was getting injured.

Sakura dashed down the hallway again. As the kunoichi ran past the katana she had knocked out of the first samurai's grasp, the room seemed to darken. She ran and ran and ran, but for some strange reason, the end of the hall didn't seem any closer. Sakura's eyes snapped open in horror as realization dawned upon her. A genjutsu! The shadows behind her leapt forth and sunk a dagger into Sakura's neck, the tip jutting out of her throat. Sakura collapsed onto the floor in a piled heap, her dead eyes wide in shock.

Her assailant was a shinobi of the Land of the River. He wrenched the dagger out of her throat, which was immediately followed by a spurt of blood. He stared with a blank face at the corpse. He threw down the kunai in anger and dropped into a defensive stance. The "corpse" exploded and a katana dropped onto the floor. A similar sword on the floor beside him caught his eye. Sakura exploded forth from the sword and drove a chakra-enhanced fist at his face. The ninja jumped back and tilted his head to the left. Sakura's powerful left hook crushed into the wall beside the shinobi's head. The wall shuddered and groaned in protest, before violently dissolving into shards of plaster, wood, and concrete. The gaping hole in the wall revealed the next room to be a restroom. Sakura's blow was so strong, it had sent a marble sink flying off the counter. The enemy shinobi's eyes widened in pure horror at this inhuman display of monstrous strength.

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. While still in mid-air, Sakura pulled back her right fist and nailed the ninja with another chakra-enhanced punch. The ninja flew through the gaping hole and into the cloud of plaster, wood, concrete, mirror glass, and marble. Sakura's grin dropped when the enemy's body disappeared with an audible _'pop'_ and was replaced with the flying bathroom sink. The ninja reappeared in its place, a smile could be seen through his black mask. The revolving sink in front of Sakura's face turned slowly, and to Sakura's horror, several of explosive tags had been attached to the body of the revolving object. The enemy ninja dropped into a restroom stall to protect himself from the imminent explosion.

Sakura had mere milliseconds to try to escape the explosion, but she was still in mid-air! Sakura grabbed a kunai knife, she was thinking if she could tear apart the seals on the explosive tags, the explosives would be disarmed. She lunged the knife at the seals on the papers.

Too late.

The air ignited as the explosives released their sealed fury. It felt like Sakura was being slammed against a solid brick wall as the explosion carried her back through the widening hole. Sakura felt herself slam into the opposite wall. The air was thrust out of her lungs as her body was crushed against the wall and black super-novas exploded in her vision as pain tore through her entire body. A screaming pain sheared through Sakura's left wrist as she slumped to the floor. Sakura pulled her bloody legs beneath her in an attempt to ease the pain in her left wrist. Sakura slowly pulled her eyes open with great effort, her ears dully ringing from the explosion. Her vision eased into focus as she squinted her eyes at the source of the agony digging in her wrist. The source became obvious when her vision focused to its fullest. The kunai knife Sakura had used to try to slash apart the explosive seals had impaled itself through her wrist, pinning her to the wall. Sakura winced at the sheer number of cuts and gashes that scored along her body. Bits and pieces of glass, among other debris, were stuck inside her body. Blood poured down her arms and face, staining her crimson uniform a deeper shade of red. The salty-iron taste of blood filled Sakura's mouth. Sakura spat out the blood and ran her tongue along her gums. Very small slivers of wood and glass was cutting up her maw from the inside.

Sakura knew that before she could heal herself, she was going to have to free herself from the kunai. She reached her right hand up toward the weapon and clawed at its handle. Finally, she looped her index finger through the knife's eye-hole and braced herself for the full extent of the pain. She grunted as she wrenched the dagger out of her arm, the pain was followed by a spray of fresh blood. She slumped to the floor while cradling her left arm. Sakura's right palm glowed with green chakra as she began the long process of healing her wrist.

Sakura felt lightheaded from blood loss, but she still knew that she wasn't safe. That shinobi was going to check for her dead body soon, and if she wasn't dead now, he would make sure she was as soon as he found her. Sakura has had training from the legendary Sannin Tsunade, so she thought she could take this one ninja, but this one seemed to be especially powerful. No matter, she needed all her focus to return herself to full power, then she would take care of this one shinobi.

As the medic ninja was repairing her injured wrist, she felt a new presence arise. It was another shinobi, the first one must have called in reinforcements. But then there was a third presence, then another one!

"_No, no, no, no, no!"_, thought Sakura as the four ninja surrounded her. She could take on one of them, but no way in Hell could she take on four! Her wrist was almost completely healed, but did it matter? They were going to kill her!

Where was Sasuke? Where was Kakashi? Hell, she would even take Naruto's help! She couldn't do this alone! Tears were threatening to leak out when suddenly, a new, but not so new, voice pounded in Sakura's head.

"_I AM NOT SOME DAMN DAMSEL IN DISTRESS!!"_, screamed the familiar voice. It was Sakura's old voice of unreasonability, Inner Sakura.

She wasn't going to whimper and die like a kicked female dog. She would slaughter the opposition! She was going to fight to the bitter death! Sakura felt new strength flow through her and quickly healed up her wrist. A quiet murmur reached her ears. The four shinobi were speaking to each other. Sakura could only catch a few words.

"She…healed…amazing…"

"…fools…weak…easy…"

"…witch…samurai…snakes…"

As the shinobi whispered amongst themselves, Sakura was busy using her newfound strength to heal herself in record speeds. She couldn't heal her entire body, but her limbs took highest priority, then came her face. She was healing her left leg when her actions became noticed. Sakura knew that the time had come for battle, but she didn't have a plan!

Sakura coiled her legs beneath her body and sprung straight up. She reached both arms above her head and grabbed the ceiling before springing down toward the right-most shinobi. The shinobi jumped back as Sakura drove a drop kick down into the floor. The floor exploded into shards of broken floor tiles and concrete. The ninja behind her swung a short sword at her neck. Sakura turned to face the blow and arched backwards, the swing flying a hair's breadth above her breasts. She flipped backwards and kicked the sword into the air. Sakura followed through with the back flip and leapt back into the air to avoid a lunge from the ninja behind her. Three of the ninja pulled out kunai knives and ran after her. Sakura pulled out two kunai and turned to face the incoming onslaught. A volley of shuriken whistled through the air toward the kunoichi. Sakura grabbed the wall beside her and tore out the plaster to use as a shield. A quick series of _'thunk' _noises told her that the shuriken threat had been blocked. Sakura dropped the hunk of wall to face the shinobi. Sakura noted that the fourth ninja was performing a long series of hand seals while chanting under his breath. She was going to have to stop whatever he was doing.

But first things came first. Sakura blurred into motion as she flew above the floor toward the shinobi. Both kunai flashed in the light as she flickered and reappeared again and again, each time coming closer to the enemy ninja. The three ninja threw shuriken at Sakura each time she reappeared, and each time she would just disappear again. This repeated many times before Sakura grabbed three shuriken out of the air and with a flick of a wrist, she returned them faster than before. The enemy ninja reflected them easily. Suddenly, a fourth shuriken flew past the three of them as they were reflecting the shuriken. The fourth shuriken whipped through the air toward the fourth shinobi. One of the three shinobi flickered and reappeared to deflect the shuriken.

"_Hmm…"_, Sakura thought, _"Either they have a good team bond, or whatever magic the fourth shinobi is doing is important."_

Finally, the three ninja took the offensive. The threesome pulled out kunai knives and dashed toward the medic ninja. Sakura immediately took the defensive and jumped backwards to try and keep her distance. The first shinobi came at her with a downward stab. Sakura hopped backwards again to dodge the slash. The shinobi landed bent over with his knife stabbing into the floor. Almost instantly afterwards, the second ninja cart wheeled over his comrade and swung a wheel kick at Sakura's forehead. Sakura dropped the knife in her left hand and grabbed the kick out of the air. Chakra burned the air around her limbs as she returned the attack with a vengeance. Sakura pulled on the leg she was holding and lifted the shinobi right off of the first. The upside-down ninja couldn't do a thing to defend himself as the kunoichi snapped three kicks into his ribs before driving a roundhouse to his sternum. The shinobi flew through the air and slammed into a wall, blood staining the lining of his black mask.

Suddenly, a presence made itself known to Sakura. It was behind her! Sakura started to whirl around to face the attack, but to no avail. The third shinobi raked a kunai knife across her back, cutting through her clothes and drawing a bloody horizontal gash. Sakura stumbled forward in agony. She reached her hands to her back and tried to heal her bloody back. Her hands glowed green with a healing energy as she probed her back, reattaching torn flesh tissue. Sakura looked up while healing her back, her eyes widened in horror. The fourth shinobi had finished his jutsu and his technique became obvious as humongous ball of water floated out from the hole to the bathroom.

"_No!"_, thought Sakura in despair, there wasn't any room to dodge or escape! There wasn't even anything to substitute with! And whatever technique this was, it looked incredibly powerful.

The three shinobi appeared behind their teammate, a smile displayed behind their identical black masks. The fourth shinobi twisted his hands in a hand seal and shouted out.

"_Water Style: Water Dragon Blast Technique!"_

As Sakura watched, the enormous sphere of water unraveled itself into the shape of a gigantic dragon. The dragon roared in anger as its glowing yellow eyes focused on Sakura's face. The medic ninja could only watch in fear as the ferocious water dragon roared again and flung itself at her. Sakura focused chakra to the bottom of her feet to keep a grip on the floor and she also brought her arms up to protect her face and eyes. Then she sucked in as much air as possible. The enormous dragon reared up and snapped its jaws shut on Sakura's body and ripped her body off the floor. The sheer amount of water pressure crushed Sakura's lungs and forced out all the air in them. The world spun as fast as a tornado as the dragon flew along the hallway. The water dragon slammed against walls and every flat surface. Sakura was smashed against each wall as well. Bits and pieces of the walls and ceiling swirled inside the belly of the beast, cutting up and shredding apart Sakura's body. The water current was so strong it was tearing Sakura's skin away from her bones. The pain was indescribable as the medic ninja's body was slowly tore apart. Sakura's head smashed against a surface and it felt like her skull was cracked. She opened her mouth to scream in pain, but the water pressure forced soiled water down her throat. Her lungs burned for air as the long dragon continued through its destructive path. She recharged her feet with chakra as she tumbled with it. The moment her body slammed against the umpteenth flat surface, she slapped her feet onto the surface and held on tight. It was like holding on a twig while in a hurricane. She didn't know how long she could last without oxygen, but she was at the end. There was a pounding in her skull that was getting louder and louder and LOUDERas she began to lose consciousness from lack of oxygen.

"_Is this the end?"_, was Sakura's last thoughts before the world went black.

Finally, the technique ended and the dragon fizzled out. Gravity took hold again and Sakura slipped off the wall she had been clinging onto and dropped onto the floor in a crumbled heap. She couldn't even feel the pain of dropping onto her wounds. She couldn't feel a thing.

Sakura's head dropped down into crimson waters, colored with her blood. Her stomach convulsed and she gagged as her gut regurgitated the tainted water she was forced to swallow. Now the water was a mixture of red and lumps of orange. Laying your head in your own vomit and blood would disgust even the hardest of medics, but Sakura didn't feel a thing. As Sakura slowly slipped from consciousness, she could just barely make out three or four humanoid figures in the corners of her fading vision.

Sakura couldn't move, couldn't fight, and couldn't defend herself from her imminent death. And she didn't feel a thing. Not a thing. A thing. Thing…

A strange throbbing forced Sakura awake. The throbbing was in her heart. When she died, she would never be able to see her friends again. Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, even Ino Yamanaka would be missed. Not to mention the Godaime Hokage, Master Tsunade.

Hold on! Sakura could feel the beginnings of _something_ welling up inside her. It felt like an urge to do something besides just lay there and die. Sakura grasped at the feeling, it was her only chance for survival. Sakura wrapped her meta-physical fingers around the _something_.

It was a memory. It was back almost six months ago, when Sakura was training with Tsunade. Tsunade was speaking…

--------

"_Sakura, are you sure of this?", questioned the Godaime._

"_I'm completely sure! It's better to have the power and not need it, than to not have it and need it.", answered Sakura._

_Tsunade nodded in approval to her apprentice's reply. _

"_This jutsu is strictly forbidden unless you are in the most dire situation. This will be your most powerful technique, as it is mine. However, this technique will be your downfall if you abuse it. Do you understand what the consequences are?"_

_Sakura nodded._

"_The _Rebirth Creation Technique_ requires that you spend around two years to store up enough of your chakra in a special seal. When the chakra is released, it will fill you up with the full capacity that your Eight Inner Chakra Gates allow, so if you are completely out of energy, you will be restored back to full power. Not only that, but if you are injured when you break the seal, the chakra will force that injury to naturally heal itself in accelerated speeds. You could be at the brink of death and still come back in seconds."_

_Sakura could only imagine how useful this would be. But she held her tongue because she knew that her master wasn't finished._

_Tsunade continued, "And it's just as deadly as it is powerful. This technique forces all the cells around the injury to divide faster to replace the cells lost. Because the human cell can only divide a limited amount of times, you will age faster while you use this technique. This may not seem like much at first, but I know by experience that you will become old faster than what you expect."_

_A sad expression graced the Hokage's beautiful features. But it was all a farce. The Hokage's beauty was due to a powerful transformation jutsu that made her look like her younger self. Sakura had seen how old her master really looks. Even though the Godaime was only around fifty or sixty years old, her true self looked like it belonged in a retirement home. She had said that she had calculated how many years she had lost by using this technique. And she had also said that she was looking for a replacement Hokage when she passed. Tsunade never said how much time she had left, but it didn't look like much. Sakura stared out of the window at the Hokage Monument. There were now five enormous faces on the face of the mountain. _

_Tsunade spoke again, snapping Sakura out of her thoughts._

"_Directly proportional to how long it would take for your injuries to heal is how much time would be taken from your lifespan. Do you understand? Good, but I'll explain anyways, for the sake of the less-than-educated listeners."_

_Tsunade gave a long and hard look at the door._

"_If you cut your thumb and you use this jutsu, a day of your life would be taken from you. But your thumb would heal almost instantly. If you sustained an injury that took four days to heal, it would heal in less than four seconds, but you would die four days before your natural death. If you break an arm while this technique is in play, your arm will nit itself back in seconds. But it would take around six weeks off the end of your life. Do you understand this."_

_Sakura was starting to become worried, but she nodded anyways._

"_I would only use this technique to save my life. I would rather have four years taken off my lifespan than have it end right there."_

_Tsunade stared in wonder at the maturity of this youth. Perhaps Mighty Guy isn't so crazy because he worships youthfulness. Nah, he is just plain insane._

"_Alright, then the only decision left is where to put it. I have my seal on my forehead.", said Tsunade as she pointed at the violet diamond on her head._

_Sakura shook her head vigorously, her pink hair flapping around her head._

"_I want my seal in a more, ah, symbolic place.", said Sakura as she pointed in the chosen area…_

----------

The glimmer of hope that Sakura held so desperately onto gave her the strength she needed. As the four enemy ninja watched, Sakura slowly stood up. Their eyes narrowed as her hands slowly formed the necessary hand seals. Whatever she was planning, they weren't stupid enough to just stand in horror like a bad cartoon. They blurred into motion and quickly closed the gap between them and her. Three ninja surrounded Sakura, but she didn't care, all she had to do was…

The three shinobi pulled out their swords and plunged them into Sakura's body, the tips of the blades exiting out of her mortally injured body. One sword was stabbed into her back, and out her ribcage. Another impaled Sakura through her left breast, angled to stab through her heart, and came out the other side. The third sword had gone clear through her stomach and had near-missed her spine.

The three shinobi held still, listening as her labored breathing slowly came to an end. Sakura sucked in one final gulp, before sagging to the floor. One of the shinobi pressed his index finger and middle finger against the artery on Sakura's neck. After a second or two, he stood up and nodded his head to his comrades. The other two shinobi sheathed their swords and walked away. Then the first shinobi turned Sakura over on her back and slid his palm down her face to close her eyes, then stood up to follow his comrades. They had vanquished one of the intruders, and there were three more to go.

Then Haruno Sakura stood up. Her eyes snapped open, burning more alive than ever before with renewed energy. Her skin appeared to shimmer as blue fire coursed through her body. The innumerable wounds that marked her body began to disappear as the chakra flowed through Sakura's entire body. The air around her swirled as if caught in a miniature tornado of cobalt flames. Gashes sealed themselves, bones knitted together, skin reformed on Sakura's broken scalp, and bits and pieces of debris were forced from her skin. She had never felt so good in her entire life. And now it was time to fight.

Sakura reached toward her right and grasped her _hitai-ite_ wrapped around her shoulder. She tore the forehead protector off her arm to reveal a purple diamond pulsing on her shoulder. The seal pulsed in unison with Sakura's heart as dark purple markings wrapped from the diamond to around her arm. Sakura wrapped the _hitai-ite_ around her forehead and tied it behind her head, securing it tightly. The words she had told her best friend many years ago echoed in her ear:

"_When I become a true shinobi, I will wear this headband around my forehead."_

Sakura pulled herself completely upright, facing the retreating River ninja. Sakura knew that she couldn't beat them all in close-quarter combat, even with the jutsu in full affect. She wasn't a super-heroine with the power to fight impossible odds. However, Sakura had a plan.

Finally, the threesome sensed the enormous amount of chakra flowing from the "dead" body. They turned around at the same time to face the resurrected medic ninja. Dumb looks of disbelief were displayed on their faces, plain as day. It was impossible! They hit this kunoichi in three different vital points. Not to mention all the damage done to her beforehand! No way in Hell could anyone survive all that and still stand up to fight! She wasn't human! But as if to defy all the laws of life and death, the ninja they had just killed stood up before them.

Sakura stood with the air of superiority and the water around her agreed with the air. The three ninja ripped out their swords again and charged at Sakura. Sakura moved slowly, reaching down toward the pouch hanging off her hip. When she dipped her hand in the pouch, she grasped air! Sakura quickly glanced down, and to her horror, the pouch containing the food pills and everything had been broken open when the water dragon struck! Only three pills remained, two smoke grenades, and five explosive tags. The smoke grenades looked wet, so they might not work. And the explosive tags were absolutely soaked, so there wasn't a chance they would ignite. Not to mention that the weapons cache that contained her kunai and shuriken had been torn off her thighs. The enemy ninja lunged at Sakura.

Sakura's mind went blank for a moment. That's when natural instincts came in. She brought her arms to bare and grabbed the closest sword in her left hand. The katana struck her palm and a spray of blood coated the blade, but Sakura didn't think about that. She pulled back her right fist and swung a straight punch toward the ninja's face. The ninja lifted his free hand and caught the blow, only to have that hand smash against his own face. He flipped head over head and slammed against the ceiling. Sakura flipped the sword in her hand and caught the hilt, then turned to face the rest of the ninja.

The other two raced toward Sakura, their hands forming seals as they ran. The waters around them churned as four more ninja formed out of the remains of the dragon jutsu. In front of them, the downed ninja was getting up, holding his head with his good hand. Surprisingly, his comrades and their clones formed a delta formation around him to protect him. Sakura saw a chance to act out her plan. She stood up and began to form a long series of hand seals. She wouldn't be able to do this when she was attacked, so this was a perfect chance. Sakura formed the last seal and shouted out:

"_Ninja Arts! Rising Floor Shuriken no Jutsu!"_

This technique was a variation of the Third Hokage's roof tile shuriken jutsu. Except this technique was a bit more difficult as floor tiles are usually more cemented in than roof tiles. This technique was also less convenient because ninja rarely fought indoors. Not to mention that many floor tiles are really all one tile with repeating patterns.

Sakura held her hands tightly, forcing more and more chakra into the floor beneath her. The water on the floor churned once more as tiles broke off the floor and lifted up as though held by wire. The enemy ninja dropped down low in a more agile stance, preparing to dodge. Sakura lifted her hands up into the air and the tiles began to spin at howling speeds. Then she flung her hands in the direction of the enemies. As if on an unheard command, the makeshift shuriken blasted their way at the River shinobi.

The seven ninja blurred into motion as they began to ricochet off the walls. The volley of tiles continued through their path, uninterrupted. Suddenly, two forms exploded and a spray of water accompanied them, then another, then another. It figures the water clones are the first ones to go, after all, they have only one-tenth the ability of the original. Finally, the rest of the tiles shattered against the floor behind them, and the ninja stopped moving. Sakura looked around her. She had used up over half of the floor tiles around her. This was a bit of a complication, but it didn't change her plan in the least bit.

The three ninja that stood before her looked a bit winded. They had been fighting for a long while. They knew that they were going to have to wrap this up if they were going to be able to continue the hunt for the rest of the intruders.

"It's time to end this!", announced Sakura.

"I agree.", said the squad leader.

Sakura reached behind her and wrapped her fingers around two ball-shaped items. Her other hand was in a seal for concentration. The timing had to be perfect.

NOW!

Sakura flung the two smoke grenades in between her and the squad. Almost immediately, she began to fly through a long series of hand seals again. The smoke grenades struck the ground and exploded. A cloud of black smoke erupted and blocked the vision of the enemy ninja. She wasn't done yet. Sakura created three shadow clones around her, each one flipping through seals even as they were forming. And then the shadow clones transformed into floor tiles themselves. All the rest of the floor tiles lifted up into the air, including the clones. Sakura shouted into the oppressive darkness.

"_Ninja Arts! Rising Floor Shuriken Jutsu!"_

The enemy ninja heard this and prepared themselves to dodge again. It would be much harder to do in this black cloud. Almost instantly, a hail of objects burst forth from the smoke and screamed their way toward the River shinobi. Judging from the howls of the objects, the ninja tried to dodge the flying projectiles. But the overlapping screams made it difficult. Finally, one of the ninja had enough.

"_Wind Style! Disruptive Air Burst!"_

Immediately, the heavy smoke was cleared away, revealing Sakura's position. The River ninja released their own volley of shuriken at the medic shinobi. Sakura pulled her hands in an Earth oriented seal and slapped the bare floor beneath her.

"_Earth Style! Uplifting Concrete Guardian!"_

The floor cracked and a section of the floor lifted up as though it was on a hinge. The shuriken slammed against the stone and fell uselessly on the ground. Meanwhile, Sakura was safe behind the concrete wall. She pressed her ear against the protective wall and listened closely.

Low chanting could be heard from behind the wall. They were going to break through the wall with a high powered technique! Sakura wasn't worried at all. Right about now, the final phase of her plan should be working…

Suddenly, information entered Sakura's head. Sakura smiled and let the concrete wall drop. The three shinobi laid on the floor and Sakura's three shadow clones stood over them. The ninja were only unconscious, but Sakura didn't feel like killing them. It was finally over! Sakura pumped her fist in the air and shouted with glee. She had won! She had finally beaten the three shinobi! All by herself too! All of the sudden, the adrenaline flowing through her body was cut off and she felt the weight of the exhaustion drop back on her shoulders. Sakura swayed slightly, her breathing became hard and long, but the smile on her face persevered.

_Hold on_, _wasn't there four shinobi?_, thought Sakura as the ground behind her began to shift and form the figure of a man with a kunai knife in hand…

--------

_Something went wrong_, thought Naruto as he ran through the maze of a floor. _I almost never lose control when I use the Kyuubi's power._

But this time he had. Naruto didn't know why, but while he had been fighting those samurai, he had the strongest urge for slaughter. He didn't have to kill them, he had disarmed them! But still, they were dead. Most of them. It had taken three brutal killings, no, murders, to appease the hunger deep inside of him. And even then it had taken a lot of willpower to spare the final samurai. It's the _damn_ Kyuubi's fault! It was because of him that Naruto killed them!

But deep inside of Naruto's mind, he knew that the Kyuubi hadn't given him enough chakra to warp his personality. This scared Naruto, what had happened then? But what scared Naruto even worse was that he hadn't even tried to resist. Secretly, Naruto had enjoyed the feeling of utter superiority. This frightened Naruto more than the time when he first transformed into the four-tailed state. More than the time that he learned that he was the one to injure Sakura that badly.

_What am I turning into?_

Naruto heard a familiar shout of delight. It was Sakura! She has gotta be close! Naruto quickened his pace and followed the sound of the cheers. Naruto felt his heart and soul brighten as he raced to Sakura's position.

Naruto raced around the final corner and opened his mouth to greet Sakura. His mouth dropped open in horror at the sight in front of him. Sakura had stopped cheering and was sagging a bit on the shoulders. But most importantly, a human figure was emerging from the ground behind her! Naruto knew that there wasn't enough time to run up and save her! That man was going to kill her!

**NO!**

Naruto crossed his fingers in front of him and created two shadow clones at either side. At the same time, he flowed chakra to the soles of his feet and stuck firmly onto the ground. The clones grabbed his arms and ran forward. Naruto stuck on the ground until he felt like his shoulders was going to pop off, then he released his grip on the floor. He flew like an arrow from a bow and somersaulted through the air toward his target. The unknown ninja lifted his knife above his head and…

"_Shadow Clone Technique: Body Clone Blow!"_

Surprised, the River shinobi twisted his upper body to face the new threat. All he saw was an orange cannonball flying at his face before Naruto drove a chakra-enhanced ax-kick down on the top of his skull. The momentum he had gathered carried Naruto up and over Sakura's head. The enemy ninja stood frozen for a second, before collapsing onto the floor. The jutsu that kept him in the floor ended, and he slid out of the ground and into a crumbled heap.

Sakura just stared at her would-be assassin. She had dropped her guard completely, and she almost got killed! Not only that, but she recognized the ninja to be the one that attacked her first!

Sakura spun around and faced Naruto, "Naruto you-"

"I really saved your butt!", exclaimed Naruto.

Ordinarily, that was the kind of comment that would have ended with Naruto unconscious and Sakura with bloody fists. But Sakura decided to spare Naruto this time, after all, he had just saved her life. Naruto could sense that he was being spared. So he went and pushed it.

"Come on! Say it!", cheered Naruto.

_If looks could mutilate…_

But Sakura complied, through gritted teeth, "Yes, Naruto, you did save my butt."

Naruto opened his mouth to push it even further, when Sakura's fingers wrapped around his lips very tightly.

"I spared you once, don't push it."

Naruto nodded and Sakura relinquished her grasp on his lips. It was here that Naruto noticed the condition of Sakura's clothing. It wasn't anything revealing, she had a mesh undershirt for added protection, but there wasn't much left clinging onto her shoulders. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the state of her clothing. Sakura followed his stare down. She grabbed Naruto's chin and forced him to look up. The look in Sakura's eyes told volumes of pain and torture in store for Naruto if he even thought of anything remotely dirty.

Suddenly, Naruto remembered that they were still on a mission and they were still not out of the castle. He informed Sakura that he knew of the whereabouts of the exfiltration point and said that he had clones rounding up the rest of Team 7.

Sakura spoke, "Then what are we waiting for! We have got to head back to the gather point."

"Yeah."

Naruto looked around.

"I don't suppose you know where that is?"

Sakura sighed, he may have grown, but Naruto was still the same idiot she always knew. But inside, Sakura didn't want that to change.

"Come on, follow me.", said Sakura.

Naruto fell behind her as they ran toward the gather point. They were almost home safe, and nobody had died yet. Or so Naruto hoped.

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End Chapter Seven: The Pulsing Diamond

Hello again! I have finally come out with chapter seven of my story, _Red Clouds In Morning_. I know, it's been almost a month already and I apologize. I took a break for a while and after that break, it was Thanksgiving break. Then it was turkey day itself. So it took a while for me to finally finish this chapter. To make it up to all of my thousands of fans, I made this chapter extremely long. It has exactly eight thousand, two hundred and sixty-four words, that's over fifteen pages! I am extremely happy with this chapter and equally exhausted. I hope for _many_ reviews for this super long chapter.

The next chapter is shown from the view of the most powerful member of Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke, as he battles his way through the castle's formidable army.

Next Chapter: Student of The Snake

P.S. Who was the shinobi that tried to use the Water Dragon Jutsu against Kakashi in the Land of Waves story arc. Include given name and family name.


	8. The Student of The Snake

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto the series. Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Warnings**: This is rated T for heavy violence, mild cursing, and torture. And highly probable character death.

**Author's Notes**: This chapter is centered around Uchiha Sasuke's point of view as he tries to locate the exfiltration point. This chapter will contain high amounts of violence, gore, suspense, and terror.

Ok, I seriously think I made that last trivia question too easy. You all guessed right! I was Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist. Of course, any Naruto fan could guess that one. I'm going to have to think up a really hard one just to make it up to you guys!

another random writer: Thanks for the review. But do you read my chapters just for the gore? If this is the case, then you're going to really enjoy this chapter!

Xia Momo Capernicus: It's alright, it wasn't much effort to edit all of my chapters. Truth be told, I have an extra copy of each and every chapter in my profile documents. So it was simple to just edit the copy and repost the document as a chapter. And yes, you are my most frequent poster, you just have to look for yourself! And as for your spelling corrections, I did that stuff for a reason, it wasn't a mistake or error. And as for your question, it took me at least a month to write out that chapter, but it took all last summer to think up the entire story. And each key-stroke was worth it, including the countless backspaces that I typed.

ArmorOfGeddon: Finally! I got a positive review from you! It took my best chapter to date. Want to know something slightly personal? I always laughed when a super-hero fights a small army and completely destroys them with ease. I used to hate when that happens, but now I just laugh at the predictable writing skills of the script writers. That is why I put in so much effort in making Sakura's enemies that powerful. I didn't want it to become another stupid cliché fight where the hero always beats the incompetent enemy. I wanted the reader to actually be afraid for Sakura's life. And it looked like it worked, judging from the tons of positive reviews.

silver-eyed: Thank you, thank you, and very thank you! Each time I get another reviewer, I feel like writing better than ever before! I do try and have as much detail as I can. But I also try to keep in mind that the reader isn't going to be like one of the fanatically devoted fans of J. K. Rowling. Of course, I'm not quite that talented, but you know what I mean. Thanks for the review.

Kitsune no Rai: Thank you for the review. I pride myself with my fighting scenes. But why did you post twice on two previous chapters? You're a bit behind man. And by the way, your guess doesn't count. That trivia question was five chapters ago, you were a bit late.

Chidori vs Rasengan: Thanks for the review, although you weren't obliged to review. And don't worry about the ending, I've mentioned before that I have had this entire story written out in my head before I typed the first key in. With a few exceptions here and there. Now, are you really that desperate to know who dies? Alright, here's the answer.

(whispers in Ecchidori's ear)

Surprising, isn't it! I'm so evil, I could be Akatsuki's leader!

**Author's Notes **(**Con.**): And here is where we congratulate the beta reader for this chapter: Chidori vs Rasengan! He volunteered to beta read my chapter while I was complaining in the Clover Street Bar, located here on this very website. It took quite a while, but Chidori vs Rasengan gave me a few helping tips. Thank you once again Ecchidori! Yeah, I know you don't like to be called that.

BTW, Chidori vs Rasengan, if by any chance this chapter bombs, I'm going to force feed you laxatives! (Inside joke)

Now, onto the story…

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_**Red Clouds In Morning**_

_Chapter Eight: The Student of The Snake_

Uchiha Sasuke never stopped for a moment. He didn't have to. Utilizing his Sharingan, Sasuke could memorize his surroundings with a single glance. The blood red orbs jutted left and right as Sasuke took in all of the information as he ran. He entered yet another split, memorized the furniture, structural design, and decorative paintings, all before he blinked. The moment his scarlet eyes opened, Sasuke was already running down yet another passageway. Sasuke's feet didn't seem to touch the ground as he continued to fly through the first floor. All of these actions may look quite organized and it may look like it requires much concentration. But in reality, Sasuke's mind was in the farthest place, ten years ago.

Ten years ago, Sasuke's older brother, his own flesh and blood, massacred the Uchiha clan. Ten years ago, for no adequately described reason, Uchiha Itachi slaughtered the clan that raised him since birth. Tens years ago, Itachi butchered every member of his extended and immediate family. Except one. Itachi has spared his eight-year old brother, leaving him with the words that Sasuke would burn into his mind forever.

"_Foolish brother. If you want to kill me, then blame me. Hate me. And live on in shame. Run and run…cling desperately to life. Then, one day, come before me with the same eyes I bear now!"_

And now Sasuke has heard that his brother was in this very land! Sasuke must escape this damned castle before he could track down Itachi to kill him. Uchiha Itachi will _not_ elude him this time! Retribution has come! Sasuke's vision blurred as his mind ascended into a level of hatred he has not felt since the last time Sasuke fought Itachi. Sasuke's grip on Kusanagi tightened, the sword's black hilt shaking in its sheath.

_I am an avenger!_

This thought calmed Sasuke. His mind cleared somewhat, giving him an ounce of sanity to cling onto. Sasuke slowly relinquished his death grip on Kusanagi and slowed to a quick jog. This was the reason why he was humiliated last time Sasuke battled Itachi. Sasuke hadn't kept his head. He had run toward Itachi screaming like a tortured beast. He needed to get his priorities straight. First find the exfiltration point, _then_ he could track down his brother. There was absolutely no point in getting worked up to the point of a heart attack before he even meet Itachi.

As he sprinted, Sasuke unconsciously felt the spot on the space between his neck and his left shoulder. He felt a very slight bump as he probed the area. This was his reminder of the last time he let revenge take over his life. For on this spot, he had once worn the Cursed seal of Heaven. Years ago, Orochimaru placed the Curse seal on Sasuke's neck. The seal infused Sasuke with incredible amounts of chakra. Chakra, however, that was tainted with Orochimaru's evil. Sasuke had let the Heaven seal fester on his neck for almost three years, allowing it to exert Orochimaru's control over him. At the time, Sasuke didn't care, all he wanted was power, power enough to kill his older brother.

But when Naruto came for the last time to free Sasuke from Orochimaru's grasp, the Uchiha surprised everyone by turning on his master and attacking Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin removed the Curse seal before Sasuke could use its power to kill him. The only remains of the seal is a peculiar circular scar on Sasuke's neck.

Sasuke pushed those memories away and stopped altogether, looking around his surroundings. He hadn't gotten lost, his Sharingan had made sure of that. However, Sasuke could feel as though he was being watched. _Natural intuition, a ninja's best tool_, Kakashi had said once. Sasuke slowly turned around, searching for the source of the disturbance. His Sharingan eyes would pierce through any genjutsu that could be hiding any threat, but there still didn't seem to be anyone around. Sasuke shook his head in frustration, there wasn't time for this! Every moment he wasted, Itachi would get farther away! Sasuke started back down the hall he had been heading before.

To Sasuke's surprise, a lone samurai was standing in his path at the end of the hallway. The samurai was an elite samurai, judging from all of the scarlet and golden décor. Behind the ghoulish mask the elite wore, hard eyes laced with anger glared at Sasuke. This man was not frightened in the least bit. The samurai reached for and grasped his katana. A wordless conversation passed between the two soldiers. A duel was about to commence.

The samurai pulled out the full length of his katana and pointed it straight at Sasuke. The elite samurai dropped into a defensive stance with the blade at a ninety-degree angle in front of him. Against a normal opponent, this would be a decent defense. Sasuke, however, was no normal opponent. Sasuke's Sharingan eyes snapped open. Then he was no longer there.

The samurai flinched in shock at the sudden disappearance of his enemy. Sasuke was hovering above his outstretched sword, Kusanagi in his left hand. The samurai quickly flipped his sword over and slashed straight up at the ninja. The blade cut through thin air. The Konoha ninja reappeared below the samurai's blade. The soldier quickly flipped his sword back over and brought his katana down toward Sasuke's head. Just as quickly as he had reappeared, Sasuke had disappeared again. Agitated now, the swordsman pulled his blade out of the floor and then brought his blade to behind him. Sasuke materialized behind him and swung his own sword at the elite samurai's cervical plexus. The sound of metal on metal echoed off the walls.

Sasuke was stunned, he hadn't anticipated that the samurai would block his killing strike. He gritted his teeth in annoyance and he escaped another slash. He reappeared in front of the soldier. The soldier dashed at Sasuke and thrust his sword at his throat. Sasuke ducked low and swung Kusanagi at the samurai's knees. The samurai jumped backwards to avoid losing a foot and a half off his height. Sasuke followed through with his attack by launching himself toward the soldier. He spun clockwise on his toes and swung horizontally at the samurai's head. The samurai brought his katana to bear and the slash glanced off. Sasuke continued with the attack by ongoing with his spin and slashing at the samurai's midsection. Again, the soldier brought his sword down and deflected the blow. Sasuke quickly followed through with his assault by spinning around once more and slashing at the samurai's ankles. The soldier stabbed his sword into the floor. Kusanagi clanged against the sword and Sasuke spun counterclockwise and slashed one final time at the samurai's neck. The samurai ripped his katana out of the floor and swung it up to defend himself. But it was too late. Kusanagi bypassed the defense and decapitated the soldier, lobbing the samurai's head clean off his neck. A bloody geyser spurted upward as the head flipped through the air. The dead body stood still for a moment, then fell forward onto his own sword. Sasuke swung his Kusanagi, the corpse's blood sliding off its oily sheen.

The pool of blood slowly slid across the floor. Sasuke watched with cold eyes as he stepped around the advancing blood and started to sheath Kusanagi. The ghoulish mask fell off the samurai's face, revealing an expression of shock permanently plastered on the soldier's face. Sasuke glanced down and quickened his pace around the pool of blood. No matter how ruthless Sasuke was in battle, he did not enjoy slaughter. Once upon a time, when he was the student of the snake, Sasuke might have enjoyed it, but now he was a changed man.

_Except when Itachi is involved._

Sasuke clenched his hands into fists. When Itachi was lying dead at Sasuke's feet, then, only then, could Sasuke take the time to feel remorse for the sins he had committed. But with Itachi this close from Sasuke's grasp, Sasuke couldn't waste a second. He slipped Kusanagi into its sheath and began to walk briskly to the end of the hall.

A sudden noise behind Sasuke alerted him. Sasuke whirled around, Kusanagi already out of its sheath and in his left hand. There were three more elite samurai standing in the hall, their backs to him. They were standing around the corpse, motionless. The three of them each pulled off their ghastly masks, revealing tears running down their faces. Sasuke watched with eyes clouded with thoughts.

_That must have been one of their comrades._

Then, the three remaining samurai turned their attention to Sasuke. Each one of their grieving faces transformed with hatred so great that the masks they had been wearing looked less vile in comparison. Sasuke lifted an eyebrow at this and readied Kusanagi in his left hand. The three samurai pulled out their swords and charged at Sasuke.

"You killed Isamu! Now you're going to die!", screamed one of the enraged soldiers.

Sasuke knew that he had neither the time nor the patience to fight these soldiers in a three-on-one fight. He, unlike the kunoichi on his team, did not have the ability to heal himself in mid-battle, so any injury he might sustain would slow him down until he located Sakura. So Sasuke decided to end this as fast as he could.

"_But do I have the time to pull it off?"_, thought Sasuke as he calculated the narrowing gap between him and those pissed off samurai. It looks like it was going to be close.

Good, Sasuke always enjoyed a challenge.

The furious soldiers barreled their way toward their intended target. Sasuke lifted Kusanagi up into the air and plunged it straight down into the wooden floor beneath him. The katana sunk a good two inches into the floor, the sharp edge of the blade aiming at the samurai. Then Sasuke knelt down with only one knee on the ground. He formed three familiar hand-seals before thrusting his left palm down toward the ground. His right hand gripped his left wrist and he began to twist his wrist roughly. The effect was immediate. Electricity exploded out from Sasuke's left palm, forming the rough shape of a wedge. The electricity chirped like the sound of a thousand birds as Sasuke shouted the name of his signature jutsu:

"_Chidori!"_

The samurai slowed down slightly as they became spellbound by its eerie beauty. It was like watching the inside of a lightning bolt. The air itself became laced with electricity as the power of the jutsu grew. The ground beneath the Chidori trembled at the close proximity to the enormous amounts of chakra flowing from Sasuke's palm. The lights above the samurai's heads flickered and dimmed as the jutsu reached the zenith of its power. The only source of light was this entrancing hollow of lightning. Shadows danced across Sasuke's face as he lifted up his left hand, Chidori in palm. Sasuke wrapped Chidori around the black hilt of his Kusanagi sword. Instead of shattering the legendary blade, this had the opposite side affect of enhancing it. As the howling jutsu fused itself with the Kusanagi, an electric blue aura began spiral down the length of the sword. An atmosphere of lightning whirled itself around the Kusanagi until it reached the tip of the sword, buried two inches under the wooden floor. Almost immediately, the floor violently shattered as the legendary sword became completely infused with the power of Chidori. Sasuke pulled Kusanagi out of the smothering hole in the floor, then glared at the approaching samurai with the fury of the Sharingan.

The samurai suddenly snapped out of their trance and lengthened their stride toward the Uchiha. But it was far too late.

Sasuke lifted Kusanagi into the air, the screaming of a thousand birds echoed off the walls. The shadows lengthened as the shining blade was lifted upwards. The unnatural glow of the sword revealed the murderous intentions displayed on Sasuke's face. Sasuke brought the sword down to aim at the stampeding samurai. His Sharingan eyes snapped open as he released the full force of the Sharingan. The samurai froze in their tracks, their muscles frozen in shock.

A flash of light and a crack of lightning exploded and Sasuke was no longer standing before them. A shudder reverberated through the samurai as they regained their ability to move. The samurai slowly inspected their immediate surroundings. Everyone seemed to be alive, although they appeared to be in some sort of state of shock. Then one of the samurai happened to look down.

His shadow was in front of him.

An eerie blue and white light shone behind the three samurai. The three soldiers whirled around at the same time to face the source of the glow. It was the telltale glow of the electrified Kusanagi. And it was Uchiha Sasuke that wields the sword. Sasuke ended the electric jutsu and Kusanagi returned to its white sheen. The lights above the samurai's heads began to burn brightly again. The first samurai gritted his teeth in frustration, this guy was just toying with them!

"You're just playing with us! Don't underestimate us! We're going to kill you, definitely!", shouted the aggravated soldier. The samurai all brought their katanas to bear to attack again. To their surprise, this sudden movement caused the blades of the swords to fracture into three or four pieces.

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at the samurai with a look of boredom, "I disarmed your weapons and side-arms. You have no chance of killing me. I spared your lives, don't make me question my decision. I have half a mind to rectify it as it is now."

The samurai trembled with suppressed fury, but even he knew that what this ninja was speaking was the truth. He dropped the useless hilt onto the floor and heaved a great sigh of defeat. Sasuke nodded slightly and began to walk toward the defeated soldiers. The samurai parted and let him pass, their hands shaking in humiliation as the shinobi just strolled through their ranks and continued walking past them without missing a beat. When the shinobi was out of earshot, the first samurai dropped onto his knees and cursed Sasuke's existence.

Sasuke's lips curved upwards in the slightest bit. He had spared the lives of the samurai for a single reason: to prove to himself that he was not a mindless machine desiring blood and massacre. Sasuke was briefly reminded of when Naruto made the vow to never stray from his own _nindo_. Time would tell whether Naruto could keep that vow.

--------

Uzumaki Naruto sneezed loudly. Sakura whirled around and _shhh_ed Naruto. Naruto quietly apologized and snuck up closer to Sakura. Sakura pressed her body against the corner and peeked around.

Three samurai appeared in Sakura's view, but it didn't look like they had been alerted to Naruto's blunder. They were still conversing about one thing or another. Sakura entertained the idea of confronting the soldiers. They were obviously low-ranked, judging from how young they were and how plain their uniform was. The only decoration was the Land of the River's ensign on the back and shoulders. Sakura quickly discarded this idea. It didn't matter how little of training they possess, Sakura and Naruto should avoid battle as much as possible.

Naruto fidgeted back and forth, a futile attempt to get comfortable in this crouching position. He knew that the gathering point was just on the other side of those samurai, so why didn't Sakura and he just take them out! Sakura was traveling through the map in her head, trying to find another path. But did it matter? If Sasuke was the one to find them, he would slaughter them without a second thought. So with that in mind, would it be merciful to just knock them out now? Sakura nodded and turned toward Naruto. Naruto grinned with childish glee as he understood the silent order.

Naruto hopped to his feet and ran around the corner. The three samurai-in-training turned to face the new arrival. Naruto quickly crossed his fingers in front of his body and shouted out:

_"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"_

Seven clones appeared around Naruto's body, each one of them brandishing a kunai knife. The samurai pulled out their katanas and charged at the battalion of clones. The small army of clones hurtled themselves at the incoming soldiers. One minute later, Sakura was watching as the clones quickly dispatched all three rookie samurai with relative ease. She calmly walked over toward the remaining Naruto. Naruto was bending over his knees, heaving in deep breaths. Naruto turned toward Sakura.

"Hey Sakura, (gasp) could you (huff) spare a food (wheeze) pill?", rasped Naruto through heavy breathing. He had not yet recovered from the day's events. Sakura shook her head.

"No Naruto, you have got to learn to conserve your chakra like…"

At this point, Naruto stopped listening. He began to wonder where Sasuke was.

--------

Uchiha Sasuke was hovering. Hovering somewhere between extremely aggravated and apocalyptic. He must have searched this entire floor two or three times and he still couldn't find that damned exit! Each moment he wasted, Itachi got farther away! Even if he found the exit, he wasn't sure whether he could catch up to his brother. What should he do!

Sasuke ran into a "T" shaped split. However, he recognized it immediately as one he had run through twice now. Sasuke slammed his fist against the nearest wall. The throbbing pain did little to calm down the avenger. Sasuke pressed his head against the wall, glaring poisoned-tipped daggers at the unresponsive wall. Sasuke heaved another great sigh, this was getting him nowhere. Sasuke looked at his internal clock. Thirty minutes was almost up, maybe Naruto or someone had found the exit. Sasuke highly doubted that Naruto could find it, so his guess would be with Kakashi or Sakura, in that order. But the Kyuubi's container could do anything once he put his mind into it, so it was a possibility.

_Naruto probably thinks this is a game between him and me._

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders, he would look around a few more minutes before heading back. He stood back and began to breath in deep breaths. There was no point in stressing himself needlessly.

Sasuke stood up, closed his eyes, squared his shoulders, and shifted Kusanagi onto his hip. When his eyes opened, the Sharingan glowed brighter than ever. Itachi will not escape punishment for his past crimes, even if it took Sasuke a lifetime! With this motivational thought in mind, Sasuke turned around and continued his quest on locating the exfiltration point.

The moment Sasuke turned around, four flying shuriken entered his view. Sasuke dropped onto the floor and the projectiles embedded themselves into the wall behind him. Sasuke cursed himself for lowering his guard and jumped to his feet. Just then, two kunai sunk themselves into the floor at Sasuke's feet. Each one had an explosive tag attached. Sasuke charged the soles of his feet with chakra and launched himself away from the imminent detonation. Sasuke hit the floor hard, rolled and curled himself into a fetal position for protection. No explosion.

_A bluff tag!_

Sasuke uncurled himself and rolled onto his back. At that moment, a shinobi descended down onto him, a kunai knife held in both hands. Sasuke yanked out Kusanagi and brought it to bear above him. The ninja stabbed his knife toward Sasuke's eyes, but Kusanagi deflected the fatal blow. Sasuke somersaulted out from under the shinobi and caught the floor with his chakra-charged feet. Using the floor as leverage, he hurtled himself at the shinobi. The ninja threw the kunai at Sasuke as a last ditch defense.

Sasuke deflected the knife with Kusanagi's edge without missing a beat. He slammed his knee into the shinobi's chin, throwing the dazed enemy ninja to the ground. Sasuke quickly followed through with the assault, even as the shinobi tumbled down toward the ground. He plunged Kusanagi through the ninja's sternum, pinning the shinobi to the ground. The shinobi gagged and a spurt of blood erupted from his mouth. The ninja stopped struggling as Death took him, leaving the body's eyes open. Sasuke pulled on Kusanagi, but the legendary blade was stubbornly wedged in between two slabs of bone.

A sudden whizzing noise snapped Sasuke to attention, forcing him to abandon Kusanagi and soar away from the source of the noise. Two large Fuuma shurikens slammed against the space Sasuke had been occupying. Sasuke glanced at the direction from where the enormous shuriken had come from. There, two River ninja stood, and they were already wielding another shuriken each. Sasuke quickly calculated the distance between him and Kusanagi. Sasuke ran toward the legendary sword and formed three hand-signs while shouting:

"_Chidori!"_

Sasuke squeezed his left wrist and electricity exploded from his left palm. He quickly ran toward Kusanagi, the screaming Chidori in hand. The two shinobi hurled their mammoth Fuuma shuriken toward the approaching Uchiha. Sasuke quickened his run into a mad dash, the howling of Chidori growing stronger as he closed the gap between him and Kusanagi. He ran past the corpse and grabbed Kusanagi with his left hand, charging it once more with Chidori's fury, before wrenching it out from the body's chest cavity. Two quick slashes tore apart the shuriken in mid-air, the electrified Kusanagi ripping through the iron like a hot knife through butter.

The two shinobi stood dumbstruck as Sasuke discarded the remains of the shuriken effortlessly. Sasuke turned his attention toward the duo and began to run toward them. Suddenly, a third River shinobi dropped from thin air and landed in front of them. His hands were forming hand-seals even as he fell. He thrust two open palm at the approaching Konoha ninja and shouted:

"_Wind Style: Battering Wind Channel Jutsu!"_

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes quickly detected an impressive amount of invisible wind chakra bursting from the shinobi's palms. Sasuke ducked low and slid left as the tunnel of wind roared over his head. The far wall behind him received the jutsu and a large hole in the wall appeared. Sasuke continued with his charge and ran straight at the trio. The second River shinobi jumped over the third shinobi's head and slapped his palms against the floor while shouting:

"_Earth Style: Stone Spiked Barricade Technique!"_

The ground in front of him warped and cracked. Then a wall made from concrete rose up off the floor, spikes covering its protective surface. Sasuke skidded to a stop to prevent himself from impaling his body on the sharp stone. He studied the newly erected stone wall. He could slice the barrier apart with his Kusanagi, but that would take far too long. Sasuke looked skyward and bared his teeth maliciously.

--------

The three River shinobi watched the stone wall. Each one was waiting for the enemy ninja to tear through the stone wall like he did the Fuuma shuriken. They pulled out their katanas, although they knew that swords weren't going to be much use against the sword that can't be stopped. The second shinobi slowly inched away from the stone wall, his grip on his sword tightened as time passed. Not a single noise emanated from the other side of the protective wall. But that didn't mean anything except whatever the shinobi was doing, he was taking his time.

The second ninja slowly closed his fist and stuck two fingers toward the wall. They nodded and turned to inch toward the wall. There was absolutely no noise. None at all. The River ninja could practically hear the sound of heartbeats coming from their own teammates.

_Thump-thump…_

_Thump-thump…_

A droplet of glistening sweat trickled down the second shinobi's face, but he didn't dare move to break its path. The first shinobi grimaced and pressed his ear against the stone wall. He closed his eyes and listened as hard as he could.

_Thump-thump…_

_Thump-thump…_

The first shinobi pressed his ear harder against the wall, he could sense that there was a clue on the other side. A fourth noise could be heard, but it was faint. It sounded like something was crumbling. Something falling apart, but it didn't sound like stone. The second shinobi could feel the singular drop of sweat crawling over the slope of his cheek. He desperately wanted to wipe it away, but his body felt frozen. A small chill crawled up the back of his neck. The droplet of sweat trickled down the slope of his cheek and reached his chin. He suddenly realized that he had been holding his breath. The second shinobi quickly gulped in much needed oxygen. This sudden action caused the droplet of sweat to drop off his chin and descend down to the floor. The small glistening droplet of sweat struck the ground.

_:plink:_

The ceiling above the second shinobi shattered with a deafening explosion, debris and plaster pelted his head. The second shinobi was staring into the cold, vacant eyes of the Sharingan, before he felt the icy metal of Kusanagi pierce his scalp. The third and first River ninja whirled around to face the arrival, their mouths open in shock and awe.

Uchiha Sasuke stood in the epicenter of the chaos, the bloodied sword of Kusanagi in his left hand. The tip of the legendary blade had pierced completely through the second ninja's scalp and had exited through the bottom of the jaw. The second shinobi hadn't felt a thing. As the River shinobi watched, Sasuke twisted and pulled out the Kusanagi. Then he turned to face the two remaining shinobi.

The two River ninja snapped out of their terror-induced trance. They turned to look at each other, and nodded. Sasuke tilted his head slightly, curiosity overriding natural common sense. He was interested in their plan. Sasuke gripped Kusanagi and fell into a defensive stance. The third shinobi turned to face Sasuke and quickly preformed a set of hand seals. Sasuke immediately recognized the seals.

"_Fire Style: Burning Fireball Jutsu!"_

The third shinobi leapt forward and released the fury of the technique. A thin stream of fire escaped his lips as he blew a hyper-concentrated version of the jutsu straight at Sasuke. The Uchiha was not impressed. He drew himself to his full height to face the incoming fireball. Utilizing his Sharingan, Sasuke measured the exact dimensions of the flames and predicted the arc of the jutsu. He stepped forward and drooped his left shoulder while tipping his head to the right. The flames filled his vision, but the jutsu lanced over his left shoulder, rendered completely harmless. However, Sasuke was forced to close his eyes from the waves of severe heat. Something heavy flew past his ear.

To the onlookers, it appeared as though the jutsu had scored a direct hit. As two River shinobi watched in amazement, Sasuke simply brushed off his shoulder and stepped out of the fiery fire. His Sharingan eyes snapped open.

"You _dare_ challenge an Uchiha to a duel of fire! No one can defeat an Uchiha where fire jutsus are concerned!", roared Sasuke, "That wasn't even worth batting an eye at! That _pathetic_ fireball wouldn't earn you adulthood if you were in _my_ clan! _This_ is a fire jutsu!"

Sasuke formed a long series of complex hand seals. The enemy shinobi quickly drew out their swords and started to run forward to attempt to stop the jutsu's activation. Sasuke's Sharingan eyes snapped open, releasing the full power of the Sharingan. The shinobi suddenly stopped in their tracks, their lives flashing before their own eyes. They witnessed their own death.

The River shinobi couldn't move, couldn't breath, couldn't defend themselves. Sasuke slapped his hands into a Tiger hand seal and began to suck in air. His chest swelled as his lungs took in unnatural amounts of oxygen. The two River shinobi watched in horror as Sasuke seemed to grow larger by the second. Then, Uchiha Sasuke shouted out:

"_Fire Style: Hell's Firestorm Missile!"_

The River shinobi regained their senses and turned away from the jutsu and tried to run. But the protective wall had now become a dead end, there was no escape. The third shinobi turned to face Sasuke and watched as the fire jutsu was released. The entire space between Sasuke and the River ninja became engulfed in white-hot fire, torching the walls and ceilings as if Hell itself was burning its path down the hall. The River shinobi screamed as their skin became ash in mere nanoseconds. Then the screams ended.

Sasuke stopped the jutsu and exhaustion dropped its load on his shoulders. He dropped onto his knees as the whiplash from the technique struck. Breathing came hard as Sasuke struggled for each breath. His vision swam before his eyes and thoughts came out muddled from fatigue.

"_Huh…Perhaps I overdid it."_, thought Sasuke as he observed the cloud of smoke and ash. After an eternity of heavy breathing, the smoke cleared. The full extent of the damage shocked even Sasuke himself. Every surface was scorched black and riddled with holes. Not only that, but the protective stone wall had been melted away, leaving a pile of steaming rocks on the floor.

Sasuke eyed a strange object jutting out from the boiling stone. As he stumbled over toward the article, its identity became obvious. A skeletal hand was protruding out of the smoking boulders, the flesh charred and burned away from the bones. It was the remains of one of the River shinobi. Sasuke grimaced at the disturbing sight.

"_Oh yeah, I really outdid myself."_

Sasuke drew himself to his full height and began to rub his shoulders. There seemed to be no more threats, but a nagging in the back of his head annoyed Sasuke. There was something that was bugging him, taunting him. Something he had missed. Sasuke grunted and scanned the rubble with his Sharingan. But the clue wasn't in the pile. He dropped on one of the few cool boulders as Sasuke rummaged through his memories of the fight, perhaps the source of this alarm was in the fight. Come to think of it, what was that which flew past his ear before? It seemed too large to be a shuriken or a kunai, but then what could it have been…

Wait a minute! Why _did_ they dare to attack Sasuke with a fire jutsu? Would it too much of a stretch to believe that they knew that he would retaliate with his own fire jutsu? No, a shinobi must never underestimate. Then following that theory, what could the identity of that flying thing be? Immediately, Sasuke knew the answer.

Fatigue forgotten, Sasuke leapt to his feet and dashed down the hallway, away from the skeletal vestiges. The object was no object, it was a person! That was why there was only one set of remains. The other shinobi must have created a clone while Sasuke was dodging the first fire jutsu. The shinobi that escaped must have run for more reinforcements. Sasuke couldn't let him escape!

Sasuke quickly reached the end of the hallway and grabbed the right corner. He flew down the right path with incredible speeds. As he regathered his speed, Sasuke noticed a mark on the wall beside him. It was a slash mark, the kind a kunai made. Sasuke immediately knew that his target had gone down this path. This was almost too easy, probably an ambush. Sasuke decided that his target might not have reached reinforcements yet. Even if there was the slightest chance, he must at least try!

The Uchiha quickly found several marks leading him down a specified path. This was definitely a trap, but at least Sasuke was aware of it. It wasn't long before Sasuke found himself standing outside double doors. Everything about this screamed trap, however, Sasuke didn't want to disappoint them. The Sharingan bearer pulled out Kusanagi and violently kicked the doors open.

The room he entered was a large circular space. It appeared to be a ballroom of sorts with only a spotlight as a source of light. Sasuke held Kusanagi in front of him and slowly strolled into the center of the spotlight. There wasn't an enemy in sight, although the Sharingan was having difficulty seeing through the darkness. He found it ironic, the Sharingan had the invaluable ability to see through genjutsus, ninjutsus, and taijutsus. But even it had trouble piercing natural darkness. It looked as though the enemy knew what they were doing.

Suddenly, the sound of doors slamming reached Sasuke's ears. So this room wasn't empty. He planted his feet in a wide stance, allowing him fair agility and providing a loose defense. His Sharingan eyes flicked back and forth, trying to determine where an attack may come from. He shifted his stance every couple seconds, turning this way and that, attempting to spread his defenses to a full circle around him. The silence was eating at his nerves.

"_Oh no, I'm becoming as impatient as Naruto!"_, thought Sasuke in despair.

The room seemed to darken, the spotlight's beam seemed to slowly shrink. Sasuke felt as though the light was a tall pillar, and the dark shadows was emptiness. If he fell off the pillar of light, he would fall to his death. Sasuke instinctively drew in his feet to the center of the pillar, trying to keep his balance on the ever-shrinking tower. The pillar began to sway from the movement. He dropped his guard and focused on staying still to prevent from falling. Soon, the circular pillar of light was so small, his toes hung off the edges. Sasuke stood on one foot and balanced on the swaying column. He closed his eyes and the mast beneath his feet dropped to a pinpoint.

He fell.

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes and saw the darkness envelope him as he plummeted through nothing. The air whipped at his face as he rapidly descended into the abyss. He slowly clasped his hands into a Tiger hand seal and shouted out.

"Release!"

Almost instantly, the Sharingan bearer slammed into the ground, his knees pistoned into his chest and nearly knocked the wind out of him. He had escaped from the illusion. Sasuke staggered to his feet and looked up. He could barely make out the shape of a spotlight, and beyond that, darkness. The reason the genjutsu had worked against him, even though he had the Sharingan activated, was because the technique didn't alter his vision. He never saw the tall pillar, he had just imagined it. The technique had only given the light a third dimension, or made Sasuke imagine it had. Sasuke let a small, half-smile grace his lips.

"_It looks like these guys know their stuff. If they had used the genjutsu to play with my sight, I would have automatically broken through it with my Sharingan."_

But now there wasn't a source of light, someone had turned off the spotlight. Sasuke closed his eyes again, although there wasn't a difference. He focused a small amount of chakra into his eardrum, loosening it and thus increasing its range of sounds. Still, no noise could be heard. But he could feel something, something just out of the range of his five senses. Sasuke had long recognized this feeling as chakra, he could sense the someone's chakra signature. But the feeling wasn't strong enough to locate the source.

Sasuke pulled himself into a defensive stance and held Kusanagi horizontal by his ear. He could hear voices. They spoke all around him. Some sort of voice projection technique. They spoke in hushed tones so quiet, that Sasuke had to focus more chakra into his eardrums just to make out the connotation. All of the sudden, he could make out the conversation, if just barely.

"He escaped our genjutsu."

"Not surprising, he is an Uchiha."

"Don't praise him, he murdered our people."

"His defense is down, attack to his left."

"He won't know what hit him…"

Sasuke quickly opened his eyes and turned toward his right. He could feel murderous intent coming from his left, now behind him. The basis of the feeling approached him at increasing speeds. The moment the assassin reached the edges of his range, he stepped backwards and swung Kusanagi up over his head. He brought the legendary blade down onto his would-be attacker. He felt the strike hit something fleshy and a warm liquid gushed over his fingertips. Sasuke opened his Sharingan eyes. There was a shadowy figure standing before him. He could feel the shape shaking though his sword, which was still cutting into the form in front of him. It looked as though the blade had lodged itself in the person's shoulder.

The indistinguishable being gasped. Sasuke immediately noted that the person sounded feminine. The woman grasped Kusanagi and tried to wrench it out of her shoulder. Sasuke twisted the sword, cutting the female's palms as she pulled.

There was a hushed silence as the woman struggled with trying to free herself. The sounds of her gasping and grunting in pain echoed off the shadows. Her comrades couldn't see what was going on in the dark.

"What is happening?"

"Should we risk turning on the lights?"

"Haruka could be in trouble! Hit the lights!"

The spotlight above Sasuke's head flashed on, bringing the struggle to light. Sasuke blinked as the harsh beams burned as his Sharingan eyes readjusted from the dark. In this light, he could see the enemy, who was apparently named Haruka. The woman was rather beautiful, with an Oriental face, brown eyes, and black straight hair. Her face was pale from blood loss, but her eyes still burned with cold determination. She wore a simple black silk uniform, very soft as well as feather light, although not very protective. The ensign of the Land of the River was displayed on both shoulders. But the banner on her left shoulder was stained red as blood pored out of her recent wound. Sasuke took in all this information in a single glance of his Sharingan and continued to twist his Kusanagi.

Finally, with pop then a wet _glash_, the kunoichi dislocated her own shoulder, freeing Kusanagi from her injury. She was grasping at the gushing wound in her shoulder, her eyes unfocused as she began to fall into shock. The kunoichi jumped backwards and melted into the shadows. Sasuke swung his Kusanagi blade, spilling her blood on the floor around him. A soft glimmer caught his eye, it was from the reflection of the light off his sword. Sasuke lifted Kusanagi into the air and angled it, the light bouncing off the sword's blade and illuminating the floor in front of him. A glistening red trail lead further into the shadows, turning left as it went.

Sasuke then twisted his wrist, turning the reflected light to follow the trail. At the end of the trail were two bodies. One was the body of Haruka, she was laying in the lap of the second person. It was an unidentified male, his eyes were glistening with tears. Her bloody wound had stopped bleeding, but it wasn't from treatment. Haruka whispered quietly in the man's ear as he wept.

"Takeru, I'm sorry that I failed you…", she whispered.

Takeru sobbed and pressed her face into his chest.

"You didn't fail me, just hold on! Don't die on me!", he cried.

The spotlight lifted off Sasuke's shoulders and shone upon the tragedy before him. Sasuke dropped his sword and watched, a silent observer. Haruka reached up and brushed a hair away from Takeru's face. His eyes were red from heavy crying.

"Dear Takeru, please tell me that you will live on.", Haruka sobbed, her blank eyes glistening with unshed tears.

Takeru nodded and pressed his forehead against hers. This was not the first time Sasuke ever saw the consequences, the first time he saw the pain of the close ones of the people he slaughtered. But for some strange and incomprehensible reason, this one had the most impact. He briefly wondered about the late Lord Shimizu, the blood splattered pictures of his family, about the samurai he had killed in the infiltration, whether he had a family and wife. This troubled Sasuke, he mustn't lose his will to fight.

Takeru slowly reached and placed his hand on Haruka's face before sliding his palm over her face, closing her eyes for the last time. He stood up and turned to face Sasuke, his eyes hidden behind his bangs. Sasuke noticed that Takeru was wearing a uniform similar to Haruka's, although he had two katanas on his back. He reached back and pulled out one of the katanas and pointed it at Sasuke. The Uchiha held Kusanagi parallel to Takeru's katana. He heard two soft bodies landing around him, the other shinobi.

Suddenly, all the lights in the area turned on, lighting every square inch in the room. Takeru lifted his sword above his head and screamed, a scream filled with anguish and pain. The howl echoed off the walls and everyone attacked at once. The shinobi behind Sasuke threw a flurry of shuriken and the River ninja at Sasuke's side charged in with his own sword. Takeru burst into a mad dash toward his intended target, and the shinobi above Sasuke's head dropped down with two kunai in hand.

For Sasuke, time slowed down to a crawl. He knew that he couldn't dodge. If he dodged to the left or right, the enemy at his side would strike him, if he jumped backwards, he would get turned into a pincushion by the shuriken. If he jumped straight up, the ninja above him would slice him apart. And this was the last floor, so Sasuke doubted that he could dig to the garage floor before they all reached him. That left one option.

Sasuke twisted Kusanagi until it was pointing up with his thumbs down. He dropped down into a half crouched position. He let go of Kusanagi with his right hand and held it in a half-Tiger hand seal in front of his face.

"_Chidori…"_

Sasuke's onyx black hair lifted up into the air as an invisible aura of power engulfed him. Everything was in place. He watched the attacks close in on him at the same time. Takeru's wild eyes burned with hatred that rivaled Sasuke's own for Itachi. Uchiha Sasuke briefly wondered whether if it was these eyes that were the daimyo's last sight before he released the jutsu.

"…_Nagashi!"_

An explosion of lightning erupted into the air and the ear-piercing sound of a thousand screaming birds filled the room. Electricity burst forth from every exposed pore in Sasuke's body, engulfing everything in his immediate area, including the three shinobi. The force of the jutsu blew everyone into the air and the lightning knocked the shuriken off course. The entire room lit up like a cloud of heat lightning. Unlike the lethal concentrated wedge-shape the original Chidori took, this version of Sasuke's technique formed a dome of lightning around him. Not only could it be activated in an instant, but it paralyzed everyone around him, making them easy picking. Sasuke lifted Kusanagi into the air, charging it once more with the power of Chidori.

The River shinobi were all withering on the floor as electricity coursed through their bodies. Sasuke started to walk over to the nearest one when a bombardment of shuriken struck the dome of lightning. Sasuke turned to face the only shinobi standing. The shinobi had been safely out of range of the Chidori Nagashi when it had struck. The River ninja motioned Sasuke to attack, then turned to run in the opposite direction of his downed comrades. Sasuke blurred and disappeared in thin air, leaving a stench of burnt ozone in his wake. The River shinobi turned to see if Sasuke was giving chase, but he wasn't there! A sudden flash of light brought the ninja's attention ahead. Sasuke slashed Kusanagi at the River shinobi's midsection. The shinobi reacted fast and jumped over the swing and landed behind Sasuke. Sasuke spun Kusanagi in his hand, stepped backwards, and plunged Kusanagi into the shinobi's shoulder. The River ninja choked as the metal pierced his clavicle and electricity surged through his form. He dropped down onto the floor, withering as his body was wracked with pain. Sasuke lifted Kusanagi above is head and prepared to deliver the final blow.

"_Wind Style: Windstorm Blade Demise!"_

Sasuke whirled around to face the newest threat. The River shinobi had recovered from Chidori's paralyzing effect and two of them were wielding what looked like a _zanbatou_ sized sword made entirely of wind chakra. Sasuke didn't have time to react! He quickly brought Kusanagi to try and block the incoming jutsu, before realizing his mistake. The wind _zanbatou_ crashed against his lightning-charged Kusanagi. Sasuke let go of the sword just at the moment of collision. Kusanagi was blasted out of the air and was sent into the wall behind Sasuke. The wind jutsu crushed against the dome of Chidori Nagashi, before tearing an enormous hole in the lightning jutsu.

"_Oh no! Wind jutsus are most powerful against lightning techniques!"_, screamed Sasuke in his head.

Takeru launched himself through the gap in Sasuke's defense and plunged his sword at Sasuke's chest. Sasuke brought Kusanagi to try and block it, before remembering that he had been disarmed. Sasuke quickly tried to turn away, but it was too late. Takeru screamed as his sword pierced through Sasuke's right side and sliced open his enemy's body.

And time stood still.

Sasuke couldn't move, couldn't react, couldn't breath. The air around him stood still, which completely contrasted the chaos around. Sasuke could see the sword that was set in in his ribs, and the blood hanging in the air. Sasuke could see the lightning surrounding him, an enormous slab of solid air crushing through the protective dome, and most clear of all, Takeru's blazing eyes. Then time returned to its normal state.

Sasuke slammed painfully on his stomach, clutching the open gash in his side. He still couldn't breath, save for a few quick gasps. Blood pounded in Sasuke's ears as he gasped for air, but receiving little. It felt like someone had set Sasuke's ribs on fire and was sprinkling salt in the inferno. He couldn't even scream, he didn't have enough oxygen in his lungs. Sasuke's vision blurred as his Sharingan deactivated. A cold shadow dropped over him.

Takeru glared at the defeated form under him, and gritted his teeth in anger. This was the person that stole his beloved one's life. Takeru thought about stabbing his sword into Sasuke's eyes, but then again, he wanted Sasuke to suffer as much as Haruka had while she was dying. Takeru turned around and began to walk away from Sasuke.

"Let him die under the weight of his wounds!", declared Takeru, "He deserves nothing less for killing Haruka and our dear daimyo."

Sasuke twisted his neck and struggled to lift his left arm. He planted his forearm beside him and heaved himself onto his back, still clutching the gash with his right hand. Now on his back, he could breath easier. But all that would do would be to delay his inevitable death. He needed to get up! He needed to fight! But Sasuke could be incased in a mountain of steel, for all of his urging, his body would not budge. Sasuke never felt so exhausted, so drained, so sleepy. He let his head flop to the side and observed a trickle of red liquid slowly encircle him.

"_It's my blood."_

This simple thought took out what little reserves of energy Sasuke had left. The pain in his side was dull, nearly nonexistent. A strange feeling of peace washed over Sasuke. Perhaps dying wouldn't be so bad, he would get to see his family again. And then he could watch Naruto become the next Hokage from above. But what about his revenge? Suddenly, Sasuke didn't care for revenge. All he could feel was this warm blanket of peace and tranquility as it encompassed his soul.

--------

Suddenly, Naruto felt cold. There was no reason for this cold, but the most dire feeling of dread was welling up inside. Naruto's teeth began to chatter as the icy feeling grew. Sakura turned toward Naruto, her emerald eyes wide with terror.

"Naruto! Do you feel it, something has gone horribly wrong!", she cried.

Naruto didn't answer, all he knew was that something terrible had happened, something very, very, terrible.

"_What's happening?!"_

--------

Sasuke's torso suddenly bucked straight up. The most intense feeling of pain shredded the white blanket. It felt like a white-hot pike had been gouged into his shoulder. The feeling in his side was nothing compared to this new, yet familiar Hell. The floor beneath him rumbled and groaned as if in sympathy. Sasuke screamed and screamed and screamed, but the pain only intensified as he begged for death. Nothing could match this, not even the hottest pits of Hades. Tears poured down the avenger's face as he released his side and grasped his left shoulder, trying to rip out the source of his pain. Sasuke felt as though his entire body was being enveloped by Hellfire. And all he could do was scream.

Takeru whirled around at the sound of Sasuke's cries. He could not believe what his eyes were revealing before him. His blood ran cold in his veins as he watched what has happening. His teammates were in similar states of shock as they stared in wonder.

Sasuke was standing up. Yet his shrieks didn't falter or lessen. It was as though he was being possessed by a demon of suffering. Takeru almost felt sympathy for Sasuke. But what is Hell's name was happening?!

Sasuke could feel the fire slithering down his body, torching his skin and poisoning his soul. There were no words that could describe the horrors that were happening. A loud splintering resonated throughout the room, and Sasuke wondered if it was his bones. The wooden floor beneath him cracked and shattered. Suddenly, a whirlwind of violet and black fire exploded underneath the tortured soul. The agonizing pain began to lessen and drop away for a new feeling.

An unrelenting desire for blood and massacre.

New energies burned in Sasuke's body, yet the chakra was as cold as ice. It swelled up within him and banished the Hellfire that had been destroying Sasuke's body. Sasuke felt hallow inside, and only one thing would fill him up. Sasuke's Sharingan eyes snapped open and he could see again. His body had changed, what looked like black-fire tattoos marked his body, from head to toe. Sasuke knew what this power was, he scarcely could forget it. Nor could he hardly grasp the idea that he had possession of it again. But here it was, all his to command. Time to take it to good use.

Sasuke's eyes were hidden behind his onyx bangs, so Takeru couldn't see what was happening. Sasuke had stopped screaming all of the sudden, and now he was glowing with an ominous black aura. Sasuke lifted his left hand and pointed it behind him, toward his abandoned Kusanagi. His shirt rippled and three hissing snakes emerged from the arm of his robes. The trio of snakes stretched and reached Kusanagi before wrapping themselves around the hilt of the sword and wrenching it out of the wall. The snakes carried Kusanagi back to Sasuke's awaiting hand and then they disappeared. The revived avenger lifted his head, revealing his Sharingan eyes. Takeru gasped in surprise at the blazing tattoos that were etched in Sasuke's skin.

Sasuke smirked, then he was gone. Takeru's head snapped back as the Uchiha's heel collided with his chin. He was lifted bodily off the floor and was sent careening head-over-heels. Takeru's teammates didn't even see Sasuke appear, it was as if Takeru had been lifted up and thrown by an invisible force! They quickly ran around and surrounded Takeru in a delta-circle. All four River shinobi were in frightened for their lives.

Sasuke reappeared in the middle of the room. Takeru stood up, wiped blood off his mouth, and shouted.

"Why won't you just **DIE**!"

The four shinobi quickly created two shadow clones apiece. Then all eight charged at Sasuke. They all pulled out their swords and surrounded the enemy ninja. Sasuke formed several slow hand-seals as they encircled him.

"_Fire Style: Mythic Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"_, shouted Sasuke. He breathed in deep and released countless fireballs all around him.

All of the River shinobi jumped into the air to dodge of fireballs. The flaming circle roared beneath them as they soared above Sasuke's head. Sasuke looked up at the legion of shinobi. Takeru's eyes widened in horror at his enemy's expression. Sasuke brought out Kusanagi and flung it straight at Takeru. Before he had any chance to dodge, the legendary blade sunk itself into his right shoulder and pinned him to a wall behind him.

Sasuke's fingers began to twist and bend rapidly in the most nimble display of finger-work he has ever seen. Takeru could see that each orb of fire had a shuriken hidden inside, and that each shuriken had a hidden wire attached! The circle of fireballs wavered, then split apart as each individual fireball arced up into the airborne army.

"NO!", screamed Takeru as he watched each of his teammates and their clones get caught by the fireballs. The flaming shuriken wrapped around all seven shinobi, sometimes wrapping around two shinobi with the same wire. They all plummeted down and landed on the floor around Sasuke as they struggled to free themselves.

"I wouldn't bother to try and break those wires, each one is enhanced and controlled by my chakra.", said Sasuke, his voice smooth as silk. Sasuke began to form another sequence of hand-seals. He turned around to look at each one as he formed each seal. Finally, he formed the final seal, the Tiger hand seal, before shouting out.

"_Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"_

An enormous fireball engulfed Sasuke before lancing out toward the helpless shinobi using the wire a medium. Takeru screamed in despair along with his teammates as each of his remaining friends was consumed by the fire. A popping noise erupted as each of the clones exploded and died. Takeru watched as three misshapen bodies crumbled onto the floor. Sasuke looked upwards at Takeru, who was still hanging close to the ceiling by the Kusanagi blade. Sasuke aimed an open palm at him and three snakes emerged from his robes. The three snakes stretched upwards and wrapped themselves around the hilt of the legendary blade. They twisted and pulled straight back, pulling out Kusanagi and Takeru together at the same time. Takeru slid off the length of the blade and fell to the floor below him. Takeru slammed against the ground on his back and didn't move. Sasuke studied the lifeless form in front of him. An eternity passed, then Takeru spoke in a hushed whisper.

"They're gone.", stammered Takeru.

Sasuke smirked and lifted Kusanagi to point straight at Takeru's prone form.

"All of my friends, they're gone.", said Takeru, "Everyone that I have come to like and love since I became a shinobi. They are all dead."

"I was going to take the Jonin exams with them. I was going to propose to Haruka. I was going to raise a family with Haruka and live my life out when I retired.", said Takeru. "But now I can't, they are all dead."

Takeru lifted his head and looked at the smothering bodies of his companions. Then his eyes landed on Haruka's body. He reached his hand out to her lifeless face. Then his hand dropped to the floor. A drop of salty water landed on the floor beneath Takeru's face and he laid his head down on his side, a stream of tears pouring down over the bridge of his nose and connecting with the other stream of grief.

Sasuke stopped smiling, the feeling of superiority falling away. Something felt wrong, but not as if he was in danger type of wrong. Something felt _morally_ wrong. It felt wrong to kill this man in his darkest hour. It would be worse than kicking a dog when its legs are broken. Suddenly, Sasuke was struck by an image.

_A young black-haired boy kneeled before his feet in the middle of an empty street. The boy was sobbing and crying, asking his "oni-san" why he did it. The street reeked of the stench of death and murder. The boy lifted his head, revealing eyes red with tears._

_Sasuke started. It was himself. It was Sasuke from ten years ago, when Itachi had slaughtered the Uchiha clan. Was this what Itachi saw while a younger Sasuke begged for an answer?_

Sasuke shook his head from the vision. He understood what the hallucination was telling him. Sasuke turned around and started to walk away from Takeru's lifeless form.

"And it's all because of you."

Sasuke stopped and turned his head to look at Takeru. To his surprise, Takeru was getting up. The River shinobi raised up to a kneeling position and reached up to grab one of his katanas.

"It's all your fault, if you had not come here, our daimyo would still be alive and Haruka would still be breathing."

Takeru slid out the katana and grabbed the second sword's hilt.

"And all of my friends would still be alive and my best friend could have been my best man at the wedding."

Takeru slid the second blade out of its sheath and held both swords at his side.

"In short, by killing you, I shall have avenged all of my friends and my lord."

Takeru lifted his head. His eyes were wide with inconceivable odium. He gritted his teeth and rasped out the last sentence.

"And I _will_ kill you, even if it takes a lifetime of hunting! I am going to achieve my revenge!"

Takeru exploded from his kneeling position and flew toward Sasuke. Sasuke barely had time to bring up his Kusanagi blade before Takeru brought both of his katanas down at Sasuke's head. Sasuke reeled back and swung his arms to try and regain his balance from the humongous blow. Takeru followed through and slashed the sword in his left hand down toward Sasuke's head while at the same time bringing the blade in his right hand toward the Uchiha's ribs.

"For I am an AVENGER!"

Sasuke quickly swung Kusanagi and knocked the downward stroke away before ducking under the horizontal strike. Sasuke then stepped backwards to try and put some distance between him and the self-pronounced avenger. He had not been well trained for this. Sasuke was supposed to be the one doing the attacking, not trying his best to just stay alive. Orochimaru had taught Sasuke to stay on the offensive, no matter what!

The black fire marks on Sasuke's skin glowed amber and he felt a new surge of intense chakra flow through him. He lifted up Kusanagi. Takeru swung both of his swords in a cross-slash attack aimed at Sasuke's body. Sasuke, using his Sharingan, calculated the path of both of the swords and brought Kusanagi to their intersecting point. The clang of metal on metal on metal echoed throughout the room.

Sasuke struggled to keep his opponent at bay, but Takeru was a head taller than Sasuke and about twenty pounds heavier. Sasuke brought his head up to Takeru's and breathed in. Then he exhaled as hard as he could. A short fireball blew out and engulfed Takeru's face. Takeru screamed and jumped away while slapping the fire from his mug.

"_That's about all I can do without any hand-seals."_, thought Sasuke.

Takeru and Sasuke stared at each other from a good distance, trying to figure out what the other was going to do. Sasuke elevated Kusanagi up level to his eyes and thought hard.

"_How many times have I used Chidori? I can only use it three times in a combat field, and four times if I don't use anything else."_

Sasuke looked back to before this fight…

"_I used Chidori the first time today while fighting those three samurai. Then again when I cleaved those two Fuuma shuriken into four pieces. And I used Chidori Nagashi just now. So that is about three times."_

That sounded about right to Sasuke.

"_I am very sure that with this powerful chakra, I could use Chidori one more time without any severe consequences, but now I have a problem. Does the Chidori Nagashi use up more than two of my charges?"_

It was a troublesome situation. Either Sasuke could try and finish this fight the quick and easy way by trying to activate Chidori once more and risk draining the rest of his chakra. Or he could try and fight Takeru one on one, Sasuke was certain that he would win. But the battle would be much harder and much more perilous.

Sasuke's left hand twitched and a spark fluttered around his hand, almost as though it was anticipating Sasuke's decision. But Sasuke was not entirely sure that he could pull it off. He couldn't deny it, he was dead tired. Sasuke needed medical attention and he needed it fast. But if he used Chidori, he could finish the fight and get that medical attention fast. But the chances of him being able to activate it were looking rather grim. Was it worth the risk?

"_The Chidori uses a good 25 percent of my chakra. But the Chidori Nagashi uses more, but how much more? But another unknown is this intense chakra, how powerful is it? And why haven't I tried this out before?"_

This without doubt was a very troublesome situation, Sasuke sighed. No, it was not worth risking Sasuke's life. It looked like he was going to do this the hard way.

Takeru shifted his position to the right and blurred into motion. Sasuke's Sharingan eyes quickly followed his movements and began to collect data. Every step Takeru made, every twitch of an arm, every flicker of an eye, every miniscule iota of information was collected in Sasuke's eyes. All of the data was compiled in his head and used to attempt to predict Takeru's next action. Slowly, a "before-image" was constructed in front of Takeru's moving body. Sasuke slowly reached in his shuriken cache and held three shuriken in a throwing position. Immediately, Takeru's "before-image" showed him jumping above three shuriken. That is what was most probable of happening if Sasuke threw three shuriken toward Takeru.

Sasuke quickly grabbed and palmed another shuriken, keeping it from view. Then he flung three of the four shuriken toward Takeru's "before-image". To his surprise, Takeru did not jump over the shuriken, he knocked them out of the air with a swing of a katana.

"_Damn! Another variable must have come up and screwed with the prediction!"_

Instantly, Sasuke understood the variable. It was Haruka. Takeru stood between Sasuke's barrage of shuriken and Haruka's corpse. Instead of dodging and letting the shuriken mar Haruka's corpse, Takeru chose to try and block all of the shuriken. It was a dangerous choice. Sasuke unconsciously squeezed his hand and gasped in pain as he unintentionally crushed his palm against the sharp edges of the palmed shuriken.

It would be so easy. If Sasuke launched a fireball jutsu at Takeru right know, there would be three probable outcomes:

One, Takeru abandons Haruka's body and let her become cremated. This was highly unlikely and was the worst possible outcome.

Two, Takeru use a jutsu to block the jutsu leaving him open from another attack.

Three, Takeru picking up Haruka's body and carrying her out of the blast radius. This would slow him down and leave him wide open for Sasuke.

Orochimaru had taught Sasuke to win at all costs. He had explained that:

"_We shinobi are silent and mysterious. 'Thou the war chiefs may boast and throw elaborate celebrations for each victory, we are, for the most part, unspoken legends. We slink below the glamour and fame that the egoistical thrive on. We work undercover and accomplish ten times more than they do!"_

_Orochimaru threw his hands up into the air and slammed his palms down onto the floor._

"_We don't kill for glory, we don't have an honor system to live by, only foolish shinobi try and follow a self-placed set of rules! The so-called "good" shinobi of Konoha are morons. They believe that just because they aren't ruthless with their methods, they are better than the other four great nations. But in keeping such an idiotic façade, they try and forget that it does not matter if you're "good" or not, murder and assassinations are still murder and assassinations!"_

_Orochimaru was shouting at this point._

"_If you are cornered, then throw dirt in the opponent's eyes! If you are facing a more powerful opponent, then exploit his every weakness! There is no "good" or "evil" in this world! That is just people's way of trying to be better than others! There is no wrong way to kill someone! And I shall teach you this, hammer it into your head, until you have absolutely no qualms about using every foul trick in the book…"_

But Orochimaru was wrong. There were some evils that just could not be opinion. Firing a jutsu at Takeru would be just dishonorable to say the least. Sasuke was a changed man, he would fight by his own set rules. Sasuke gripped Kusanagi harder and charged at Takeru. The new avenger held both katanas at his side and rushed toward Sasuke as well.

_KLANG!_

Cried the flashing blades as they smashed together.

_KLANG!_

As the vigor increased.

_KLANG!_

Sparks jettisoned into the air as metal grinded on metal.

_KLANG!_

As two men fought, one for his life and one for the other's death.

The two avengers separated violently with a flare of sparks and skidded a remote distance from the other. Sasuke strove to his feet and wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his brow. Takeru was not proving to be a pushover. Not only that, but the day's activities were, at the worst possible time, working their way into Sasuke's movements. If he did not end this soon, he wasn't going to have the energy to move, let alone continue fighting.

Takeru wasn't in much better shape. He was using his two swords as support to hold him upright. He was panting hard as he glared murderously. Sweat dripped down his armpits and soaked into his uniform. Then he turned and looked at his comrade's charred corpses and straightened up, suddenly full of energy.

Sasuke blanched at his sudden resurrection.

"_Damn! I don't know where he gets this energy, but I'm not going to last if this continues!"_

The black-fire marks on Sasuke's body shimmered orange and gold, and he felt a bit more chakra seep into his body. It wasn't enough for a medium-powered ninjutsu, but Sasuke didn't know many low-powered jutsus. Perhaps taijutsu…

Takeru tore his dual-swords out of the floor and stampeded toward Sasuke.

"_I must time this just right…"_, thought Sasuke as he held Kusanagi behind him with both hands.

The River shinobi screamed as he got within range.

"Now you die!", bellowed Takeru as he lifted both swords above his head.

"_NOW!"_

Sasuke stepped forward and swung Kusanagi with all his might at Takeru's exposed torso. Takeru suddenly ducked straight down underneath the dramatic swing. Kusanagi whistled over his head as it nicked his neck hairs. Takeru smirked.

Takeru's smirk ended when Sasuke's foot connected with his chin. The blow was so great that it launched him straight up into the air. Sasuke shifted from his kick position into a pouncing position and disappeared. As the airborne shinobi soared through the air, Uchiha Sasuke reappeared beneath him. Takeru looked beneath him into the Sharingan eyes, and saw no emotion.

"Shadow of the Dancing Leaf."

Suddenly, Sasuke's right leg came swinging from below and crushed Takeru's ribs. At the same time, his left fist backhanded Takeru's face and Sasuke used this motion to swing above Takeru. Sasuke mercilessly beat Takeru with a short onslaught of punches as the two shinobi plummeted down toward the ground below. Sasuke then twisted his body and drove his right heel toward his opponent. At the moment of impact, Sasuke's right heel sledge hammered into Takeru's gut, crushing his internal organs and blasting the wind from his lungs. Takeru gagged and blood spewed out of his mouth.

"Lion's Barrage!", declared Sasuke as he jumped away from his fallen adversary. Takeru held still in a fallen position, then fell limp, like a marionette with its strings cut. Sasuke breathed hard as he watched Takeru's fallen form. Then he stood up and strolled over to the lame shinobi. Takeru was visibly struggling as the Uchiha made his way over to him. But no part of his body was able to move, no matter how hard he urged. Finally, Sasuke stood towering above the crumbled body.

Takeru gagged, "Don't kill me, I'm not through yet! You are going to pay for killing my squad and my fa…the daimyo!", Takeru fell into a coughing fit and laid still.

Sasuke didn't answer, instead just studied the fallen avenger. Something about his face seemed so familiar. Suddenly, Sasuke dropped his stare and sheathed Kusanagi. Then did the most surprising thing, he sat down beside Takeru. An uncomfortable silence hung between the two avengers. Takeru wasn't getting the feeling that Sasuke was going to kill him, so he stopped struggling.

"I'm sorry.", muttered Sasuke all of the sudden.

Takeru just stared at Sasuke with a wary look of disbelief.

"I know what you have just gone through,", continued Sasuke, "and I have lived over half my life in constant hatred because of it."

Takeru no longer wanted to listen, but he couldn't move away.

"At the age of ten, my older brother massacred my entire clan. My family, my aunts and uncles, my grandparents, my godparents, everyone."

Takeru clenched his teeth, but didn't say anything.

"Since age ten, I have lived the role of the lone avenger. I have done everything in my power and even used other's power to gain the abilities I need to avenge my clan. I have done so many hateful things that I couldn't count them all. From betraying my village to trying to sell my soul for power. All in the sake of vengeance."

"It was only through my best friend, my savior, that I turned from the path of an avenger. But like it or not, I have realized that I am becoming more and more like my older brother, Itachi. I have killed all of your teammates, your lover, and worst of all, your father."

Takeru gasped in surprise and stared at Sasuke.

"Yes, I have realized that you are the heir to the Land of the River. Your father was the daimyo, Hiroshi Shimizu. You are Takeru Shimizu, are you not?"

A fresh tear formed in Takeru's eyes at the mention of his father. Memories of happier times and the shock and horror at finding him with a fatal wound through his chest, they all flashed through his mind. He madly blinked back the tear and said nothing.

Sasuke took in a deep breath and plunged forward.

"Over half of my life has been wasted in searching for my older brother, and I see it happening again right here. I have made a terrible mistake, and I don't want to see anyone following my lonesome footsteps. Don't throw away your life in search of vengeance, you are the rightful heir and this land needs a new leader. You must not abandon this responsibility or this country will perish."

Sasuke looked at Takeru with the Sharingan, burrowing his stare into Takeru's eyes. Takeru felt a strange sense of tranquility wash over him and consciousness slowly slipped from his grasp. Then the River shinobi's head fell as Sasuke's Sharingan genjutsu took affect, lulling him to a peaceful slumber to slow down the more fatal affects of his injuries. Sasuke only hoped that this was enough time for Takeru to be found.

Suddenly, the feeling of fire burning along his skin returned, albeit not with a fraction of the pain. Sasuke clutched his shoulder and observed as the black-fire marks glowed amber and slowly retreated back from whence they came. When each and every tattoo disappeared, Sasuke sighed in relief. It would be troublesome if anyone found out about his newfound power.

Just when Sasuke was about to smile, his side ignited and exploded with terrible agony!

"Guwaah!", screamed Sasuke as he clutched his ribs. He felt a warm liquid soaking through his robes and when he pulled his hand away, it was covered with blood. Without warning, the world twisted and spun in front of his vision. Sasuke stumbled backwards, his balance suddenly left him.

"_Looks like that wound reopened."_, Sasuke thought, _"But did it ever close to begin with?"_

As the Uchiha fell, he heard a silent shrill cry and felt himself slam against what felt like two pairs of tree branches. A rising sensation accompanied with more quiet sounds, and then the world turned black.

--------

Sakura was sitting in a room with four passageways. A kunai knife was embedded in the center. There was no doubt about it, this was the gathering point. The thirty-minute time limit had expired for over five minutes now. And there still was no sign of anyone arriving.

Sakura sighed and brushed a bright pink hair away from her face.

"_It figures that Kakashi would be late, but what about Sasuke-kun? Oh, I really hope nothing happened to him. But what of earlier, that horrible cold feeling? I wish I had some company."_

Suddenly, Naruto charged into the room. He looked out of breath but the ever-present smile was still on his face.

"Hey Sakura, I placed all those seals that you gave me in every passageway nearby here. That way you can tell when someone is coming, is that right?"

Sakura nodded and stood up. She formed a few seals and activated the seals. She could feel her senses widen as each seal activated. When anyone gets within a certain proximity of one of the seals, she would instantly know about it. The only trouble being that she wouldn't be able to tell if the intruder was friend or foe, but it did give her a fair warning.

"So,", said Naruto, "You think we're gonna have to wait long? 'Cause I'm getting bored and there's nothing to do except wait."

"I don't know.", said Sakura simply.

Naruto decided to pass the time by wandering around the room. Suddenly, Sakura's head snapped up and she was on her feet. She grabbed a kunai knife and Naruto followed suit. She turned to face the far left passage.

Naruto dashed to her side and created two clones on each side, each one wielding a kunai knife. The sound of running echoed down from the passage. Sakura and Naruto tensed up as the sound came closer and closer.

Two Naruto clones burst into the room. Naruto relaxed, but Sakura's eyes widened even farther. The two clones were carrying a very pale Sasuke on their backs. They laid Sasuke on the floor and then collapsed themselves. One of the clones glanced up at Sakura, a wild look in his tear-filled eyes.

"Sakura-chan! Sasuke's dead!"

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End Chapter Eight: The Student of the Snake

I'm back and I've finally finished this epic chapter. I know it's been almost two months, but it's been worth it! I'll start working on the next chapter as soon as possible! And I am extremely sorry about making you all wait this long. A lot happened during the last two months, but I'm back and I'm whipping this story into a faster pace. I hope for many reviews for this twenty-six page chapter. I think I will go lay down now.

In the next chapter, Kakashi must face a legion of opponents and he will not escape unscathed. If he escapes at all.

Next Chapter: Copy Ninja's Revenge!

P.S. How old was Uchiha Itachi when he slaughtered every member of the Uchiha clan, save Uchiha Sasuke. Hint: Sasuke was eight years old.


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